Part 2 of The Merry Man Series Bobby
by rangeman girl
Summary: When Bobby goes for a jog in the park, he stumbles on a woman in trouble....little did he know she was a whole lot more trouble than he anticipated....


Bobby

By: Amanda Cosentino

I don't own most of theses characters, J.E. Does. I promise to return them unharmed. (Except for maybe Lester and Ranger) This one is part 2 in what I am going to call "The Merry Men Series." I got the idea for this one very loosely based on my very own Merry Man rescue. Special thanks to Heidi for helping me proof. Thanks Babe. Hope you enjoy.

Bobby's POV 

"Yo, Brown are you ready yet?" I heard Tank call from the hallway. "Christ you take longer than any chic or Lester to get ready. Let's go!"

I shook my head and laced up my running shoes. I glanced at the clock it was 5:30 a.m. and Tank seemed awful anxious to go for a run. We would normally work out in the RangeMan gym on the treadmills but spring was finally here, and we had decided to head over to a running path that Tank had discovered over on the other side of Trenton.

I walked out into the hallway outside my 4th floor apartment at RangeMan where Tank was waiting on me.

"What in the hell are you in such a rush for?" I asked following him down the hall.

"It's already 5:30 we should have been gone a half hour ago," Tank grumbled. We stepped into the elevator and headed down to the garage. We walked over to Tank's H2 Hummer and climbed in.

"So tell me again why we need to drive to the other side of Trenton to go for a run?" I asked as Tank pulled out of the garage.

"Change of scenery, man. Don't you know that variety is the spice of life?" Tank said with a chuckle. That seemed to be Tank's motto lately, ever since he and Lula had split up. I personally thought that he still had something for her and was simply too pigheaded to admit it.

Traffic was light and we made it across town in about 15 minutes. Tank pulled into a secluded parking lot. There were only two other cars in the lot.

"How did you find this place?" I asked as we began our warm up stretches.

"By accident."

"Care to explain," I asked looked over at Tank.

"Nope, let's go." Tank started jogging down the path. I shook my head and followed him. I've known Tank a lot of years and that is how he is. Never has a whole lot to say but usually if he does, it's important.

We fell into a comfortable pace and continued in silence. I enjoy running. It has always given me a kind of peace. You fall into a pace and get your rhythm and it gives you a chance to sort out anything in your mind. I concentrate on my breathing and all the shit seems to go away. If I have had a bad day, I go for a run. Guess you could say it is my therapy.

This place was really beautiful. The paved path ran by a small stream and the trees were just starting to bud. The air was crisp and the sun had just started to peek through. One mile down.

"How long is this path?" I asked keeping pace with Tank.

"5 miles," he answered. That worked, 5 out and 5 back and we had our 10 miles. The standard. We finished the remaining 4 miles. When we got to the end of the path, we turned and headed back. We were about to the seven-mile mark and I noticed a woman over to the side of the path directly ahead of us.

She was sitting on the ground holding her ankle. She had long dark hair pulled up. She was dressed in short running shorts and a sports bra. Damn she had a body. She looked up and saw us coming down the path and waved.

"Excuse me, could you guys help me?" she called. Both Tank and I slowed to a walk. We approached her. She was holding her left ankle and I could see from here that it was turning black and blue. Oh that doesn't look good, I thought.

"What can we help you with Ma'am?" Tank said standing over top of her. She looked up at Tank and her eyes were wide. She had that deer in the headlight look, but then Tank seems to have that effect on a lot of women. She glanced over at me. Her olive complexion looked very pale. I could see that she had tears burning in her gorgeous green eyes.

"I tripped and fell in that pothole over there, and I think that I have really messed up my ankle. Do you think that you could help me get back to the end of the path, please?"

I hunkered down next to her. "Do you mind if I take a look at it?" I asked. She gritted her teeth and shook her head.

"Be my guest," she ground out. I reached down and unlaced her running shoe and gently slipped it off. She howled in pain. I glanced over at her and she was squeezing her eyes shut.

"This may hurt a little, but I need to check and see if it is broken," I said gently slipping her sock off. Dark purple bruises had already started to appear around her ankle and along the side of her foot. She nodded and I gently squeezed the outside of her foot.

"Oh, dammit!" she yelled and tried to jerk her foot away.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Can you move your toes for me?"

She bit her full lower lip and wiggled her toes.

"That's good, now push against my hand. Just like you were pushing on a gas pedal," I said placing my hand against the bottom of her foot. She pressed against my hand but it was very weak. I ran my hand up the outside of her smooth, tan calf, "Do you have any pain here?"

"No," she answered. I slid my hand closer to her ankle. Damn she has nice legs, I thought.

"How about here," I asked gently squeezing above her ankle.

"Yeah, but not as bad as my foot."

I nodded my head and placed her foot gently on the ground.

"I'm going to help you up and I want you to see if you can put any kind of weight on it, ok?" She nodded again and extended her hands. I took them and pulled her slightly. She put all of her weight on her right foot and pulled herself up. Damn. She was about 5'10, pretty tall for a woman, and had a body that could stop traffic. I looked over at Tank and saw him grinning.

She placed her left foot on the ground and tried to take a step. "Fuck," she ground out. She was still clenching her teeth. I slipped my arm around her waist in case she fell. Her skin was a smooth as silk.

"Ma'am I'm afraid that you have broken a bone in your foot. You are going to need to get to the hospital for x-ray's and possibly a cast, depending on which bone it is," I said. She looked up at me.

"You really think it's broken?" she asked. I gave her a half grin and nodded my head.

"Yeah it is."

"Are you a doctor?"

"I was a medic in the Army," I pulled her close to me and she slipped her arm around my shoulder. We started down the path and our progress was painfully slow.

She was attempting to put weight on her foot. Her chest was heaving from the effort causing her breasts to strain against her already tight sports bra. I swallowed hard and attempted to get my mind on something, anything else but her chest.

"Here," I said stopping. I bent down and picked her up. She looked at me wide eyed.

"You can't carry me all the way back. It's close to three miles back to the parking lot," she said gaping at me. I looked at her and smiled.

"He's humped a lot bigger and uglier than you out of a jungle before," Tank chuckled. She looked over at Tank and then back to me.

"It's ok. I think that I can manage," I said smiling down at her. Her body fit snugly against mine. She looked up at me with her sparkling green eyes. Cat eyes I thought.

"I really do appreciate you helping me out," she smiled, "I left my damn cell phone in the car and I was starting to wonder if I was going to have to crawl my ass out of here."

"Guess it's a good thing that we came along. So what's your name?" I asked as we started back down the path.

"Giselle Campagna." (pronounced Cam-pan-ya)

"I'm Bobby Brown, and that is Tank," I said motioning with my head. She looked over at Tank and then leaned in closer to me.

"It suits him," she whispered.

I threw my head back and laughed. "Yes it does."

"So do you think that I will have to be in a cast long?"

I shook my head, "It's hard to say. It depends on which bone is broken, but my guess is 6-8 weeks. Then of course rehab after that." I looked down at her. She had a pained expression on her face. "Are you ok?"

"Other than my foot throbbing like a bitch I'm good. I can't be in a cast 6-8 weeks. I have to work."

"What do you do?'

"I'm a chef. I can't very well run my kitchen if I am in a cast and crutches."

"No, that wouldn't be easy. Do you have your own restaurant?"

"Yeah, we just opened three weeks ago."

"Is it in Trenton?" Tank asked.

"Right downtown. The Alcove." I nodded my head. I had driven by there before. "I would like for you two to come in for dinner. It is the least that I can do for your help."

"That sounds great," I answered.

"So what do you do?" she asked.

"We both work for RangeMan. It is a security company."

"So are you like security guards, body guards, stuff like that?"

Tanks laughter boomed. "Something like that," he answered her.

I looked up and we were almost to the end of the path. "See we made it after all," I said laughing. She smiled up at me.

"Impressive," she laughed. "Do you guys run here a lot?"

"I have before," Tank answered. "First time for Bobby though."

"Well I guess you ended up here today for a reason. Lucky me," she said and instantly blushed. "You can put me down here." I shook my head.

"You can't walk, where are you parked?" She motioned over to a dark gray Nissan Extera. I walked over and sat her down by the driver's door. She hopped around and I opened the door for her. She hopped up inside and frowned.

"Shit," she muttered. I looked inside. It was a standard.

"I don't think that you are going to be able to drive," I said looking at her. "You don't want to take the chance of injuring your foot even more by trying to press the clutch. Do you want to call someone or would you like us to take you to the E.R.?"

"I can't ask you to do that. You have done enough already. Let me give it a try," she said attempting to push the clutch in. She winced in pain. I knew that it had to hurt.

"It's no problem. Tank," I called behind me.

"Yo," he answered.

"She isn't going to be able to drive. Wanna follow me to the E.R.?"

"Yeah, I can do that," he laughed. I turned and gave him a puzzled look.

"Really you don't have to do this," she said. I looked at her and smiled.

"It isn't a problem. You don't mind if I drive your car to the E.R. do you?"

"No," she said sliding over the consol and into the passenger seat. Her shorts rode up as she slipped over the consol exposing more of her gorgeous legs. I swallowed hard chanting think about baseball in my head. The last thing I needed was something else to 'pop up'. I hopped up into the driver's seat. I started the car and the radio was blaring Audioslave. "Sorry," she said turning it down. "I have to get myself pumped up to run."

I gave her a smile, put the car in gear and headed toward the E.R.

Giselle's POV 

I've been under a lot of stress lately. Opening your own restaurant is tough. I was used to working 12-14 hour days, but there had been a couple of times in the past few weeks that it was closer to 18-20. Things had finally fallen into place thanks to my wonderful Sous Chef Alberto. He was my long time friend and someone that I trusted enough to leave in charge.

"Elle, you need to get out of here," Alberto said to me as he checked in the meat order. "You've been here non stop for the past few weeks. Go home. Take a shower, take a nap, do something. You need to decompress."

"You sure?" I was exhausted. I had been running on little to no sleep for the past few weeks, and a hot shower and a nap sounded pretty damn good.

"Go," he said pushing me playfully. "I can handle this shit in my sleep." I looked at him and grinned. I knew he could handle it in his sleep. That's why I had him working for me.

"Alright, alright," I said putting my knives in the case. "I'll be back in a few hours. I want to get the specials in order, rumor has it we have a food critic tonight."

I felt kind of bad leaving Alberto alone. Well not alone, we had a full staff, but alone to run the kitchen. He had been here just as much as I had in the past few weeks. He had a wife and daughter and I hated to think what he was sacrificing to make my dream come true.

I called out a few instructions to the prep cooks and headed out the door. I drove to my apartment. I have a small apartment toward the North side of Trenton. It's nothing special, but it's a place to sleep and eat. Not that I had been doing much of either there lately. I let myself in and pulled off my chef gear. I wasn't tired, which by all rights I should be.

I needed to decompress. I needed a run. It was a habit that I had gotten into in culinary school and had tried to keep it up. I quickly changed into my running gear and headed back downstairs. I hopped into my Extera and cranked the stereo. Audioslave. I needed to get myself pumped up for a good hard run. I wound up over by a running path that I had discovered a few months ago.

I parked and did my stretches and took off down the path. It was a little after 6 a.m. and I had been up since 3 a.m. I got up the early to go down to the fish market. You have to get there early to get the best fish.

As I started my run I was going over tonight's specials in my head. Pan seared Sea Bass over sautéed ginger and garlic Napa cabbage with a Sesame and Chili oil drizzle. Fire roasted Duck Breast with a balsamic and strawberry reduction, wild rice and………shit. What am I going to do with the duck?

I was deep in thought and I didn't even see the pothole. I stepped into it and shrieked as I fell. I heard a loud "POP" and my ankle screamed. I cried out in pain and rolled into the grass alongside the path. I looked at my ankle. SHIT! I tried to get up and instantly regretted the action. I sat back down and caught my breath. Come on Giselle, you've got three miles back to the lot, get up and get moving. I was trying to motivate myself but it simply wasn't happening.

I don't even have my damn phone. Double SHIT! What in the hell am I going to do now? I heard someone coming down the path and looked up to see two guys running. One was HUGE! He must have been about 6'6", completely bald and to tell you the truth, pretty scary looking. The other was about 6'3" dark brown hair, medium complexion and built.

I raised my hand and waved. "Excuse me, could you guys help me?" They both slowed to a walk and headed over toward me. The huge one was standing over me. God he was scary. Maybe I should have taken my chances walking back on my own.

"What can we help you with Ma'am?" the giant one asked. He had a dark expression on his face that made me want to piss myself.

"I tripped and fell in that pot hole over there and I think that I really messed up my ankle. Do you think that you could help me get back to the end of the path, please?" I glanced over to the other guy. Now he was a cutie. Nowhere near as scary as the other one. I decided to focus on him.

The 'nice' one hunkered down next to me. "Do you mind if I have a look at it?" Wow, nice eyes, I thought. They were a light shade of blue. I gritted my teeth, it was really starting to hurt.

"Be my guest," I told the 'nice' one. He reached down and unlaced my running shoe and gently slipped it off. I instantly howled in pain. I squeezed my eyes shut and did a little deep breathing.

"This may hurt a little, but I need to check and see if it is broken," the 'nice' one said as he gently slipped my sock off. I looked down. Dark purple bruises had already started to appear around my ankle and along the side of my foot. He applied some pressure on the outside of my foot.

"Oh, dammit!" I yelped and tried to jerk my foot away. That really fucking hurt.

"I'm sorry. Can you move your toes for me?" I tried to wiggle my toes and actually did it. "That's good, now push against my hand. Just like you were pushing on a gas pedal," the 'nice' one placed his hand against the bottom of my foot. I pressed down like he told me too, and instantly paid for it. Pain shot up through my foot to my ankle. He ran my hand up the outside of my calf, "Do you have any pain here?"

"No," I answered. He slid his hand closer to my ankle. My skin was tingling where he had touched me. Christ he's trying to help you and you're getting all excited cut it out, I thought.

"How about here," he asked gently squeezing above my ankle.

"Yeah, but not as bad as my foot." The 'nice' one nodded and placed my foot gently on the ground.

"I'm going to help you up and I want you to see if you can put any kind of weight on it, ok?" I nodded again and extended my hands. The 'nice' one took them and pulled slightly. I put all of my weight on my right foot and pulled myself up. Damn he is a cutie! I glanced over at the 'scary' one and he had an even scarier smile on his face.

I tried to take a step. "Fuck," I said clenching my teeth. He slipped his arm around my waist. I felt a tingle rush though me.

"Ma'am I'm afraid that you have broken a bone in your foot. You are going to need to get to the hospital for x-ray's and possibly a cast, depending on which bone it is," he said.

"You really think it's broken?" I asked. The 'nice' one gave me a boyish half grin and nodded.

"Yeah it is."

"Are you a doctor?"

"I was a medic in the Army," he pulled me closer to him and I slipped my arm around his broad shoulders. I stole a glance at him out of the corner of my eye. Army man. Interesting. And adorable! We started down the path and our progress was painfully slow. My foot was really starting to throb, bad.

"Here," the 'nice' one said stopping. He bent down and picked me up like I was nothing.

"You can't carry me all the way back. It's close to three miles back to the parking lot," I said unbelieving that it was his intention. He gave me another boyish smile.

"He's humped a lot bigger and uglier than you out of a jungle before," the 'scary' one said laughing.

"It's ok, I think that I can manage," the 'nice' one said smiling. I could feel his hard muscles pressing against me and I instantly flushed.

"I really do appreciate you helping me out. I left my damn cell phone in the car and I was starting to wonder if I was going to have to crawl my ass out of here."

"Guess it's a good thing that we came along. So what's your name?" he asked as we started back down the path.

"Giselle Campagna."

"I'm Bobby Brown, and that is Tank," he said motioning over to the 'scary' guy. Tank. That about sums it up, I thought. I leaned in closer to Bobby.

"It suits him," I whispered.

"Yes it does," Bobby said throwing back his head and laughing.

"So do you think that I will have to be in a cast long?"

"It's hard to say. It depends on which bone is broken, but my guess is 6-8 weeks. Then of course rehab after that. Are you ok?"

"Other than my foot throbbing like a bitch I'm good. I can't be in a cast 6-8 weeks. I have to work."

"What do you do?'

"I'm a chef. I can't very well run my kitchen if I am in a cast and crutches."

"No, that wouldn't be easy. Do you have your own restaurant?"

"Yeah, we just opened three weeks ago."

"Is it in Trenton?" Tank asked.

"Right downtown. The Alcove. I would like for you two to come in for dinner. It is the least that I can do for your help." And I might get to see this one again, I thought.

They both agreed that sounded good. We talked for a while and I learned that they were both some kind of security guards. I had the feeling that they were trying to keep talking so that I wouldn't think about my foot.

"See we made it after all," Bobby said smiling down at me. He had the prettiest straight, white teeth. I looked and we were almost to the end of the path. I glanced back at Bobby. Hell he hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Impressive," I said eyeing him approvingly. "Do you guys run here a lot?" I came here pretty often and I sure as hell would have remembered him.

"I have before," Tank answered. "First time for Bobby though."

"Well I guess you ended up here today for a reason. Lucky me," I said and instantly blushed. "You can put me down here."

"You can't walk, where are you parked?" I sighed and motioned over to my Extera. He sat me down next to the driver's door and opened it for me. I hopped around and slid up into the seat.

"Shit," I forgot about the clutch. Maybe I could do it.

"I don't think that you are going to be able to drive. You don't want to take the chance of injuring your foot even more by trying to press the clutch. Do you want to call someone or would you like us to take you to the E.R.?"

"I can't ask you to do that. You have done enough already. Let me give it a try." I tried to push the clutch in. Pain shot through my foot and I had to clench my teeth again to keep from screaming. This wasn't going to happen.

"It's no problem. Tank," Bobby called behind him.

"Yo," he answered.

"She isn't going to be able to drive. Wanna follow me to the E.R.?"

"Yeah, I can do that," he laughed.

"Really you don't have to do this," I said. I was thinking about whom I could call. I really didn't want to call an ambulance that would just be a fiasco.

"It isn't a problem. You don't mind if I drive your car to the E.R. do you?"

"No," I sighed and slid over the consol. This knight in shining armor shit was getting weird. I didn't get a creepy feeling from Bobby or anything. Actually it was the opposite. Bobby slid behind the wheel and started the car. My stereo blared Audioslave. "Sorry, I have to get myself pumped up to run." I said with a little smile.

Bobby gave me a sweet smile and put the car into gear and pulled out. I grabbed my phone. "I need to make a call," I said hitting speed dial 1. I glanced over at Bobby he was concentrating on driving. After the third ring Alberto picked up.

"Elle, you're supposed to be taking a nap. What is it?" Alberto laughed. "Everything is fine, we haven't burnt the place down, shit you haven't been gone an hour yet."

"Alberto, I had an accident and I am on the way to the E.R."

"Christ! What happened, are you ok?"

"I think I broke my foot."

"Fuck," he sighed. My sentiment's exactly.

"I'll call you when I get out, ok? I don't know how bad it is yet. I hate to do this to you Hun. I'll call when I can." I was starting to get a little fidgety. Tonight was huge. This was our first review. It could make us or break us.

"I got it covered, Elle."

"I know you do. You pull this off and I will love you forever."

"I know. You'll owe me huge. Call me later," he said and disconnected.

I shut my phone and laid my head back against the headrest. This was so not good. I had worked to hard to long to just piss it away. I let out a sigh.

"Everything ok?" Bobby asked looking over at me.

"It will be. I hope," I said closing my eyes. "Do you do this knight in shining armor slash damsel in distress thing a lot?" I asked him laughing.

"No, not really," he said laughing. "As a matter of fact had I known that this would be the scenario today I would have worn my armor and brought my horse."

I busted out laughing. So not only is he cute and nice, but he has a sense of humor too. He pulled up in front of the E.R. and parked. A black H2 Hummer pulled in beside us. Bobby got out and came around and helped me out. I tried to put some weight on my foot and instantly cried out. Bobby stopped and picked me up again. I blushed.

"I'm sorry. This is so embarrassing," I said. He looked at me strangely.

"Why?"

"It's embarrassing because I don't even know you and here you are carrying me around."

"It's what we knight's do," he said chuckling. He carried me in through the sliding doors and up to the nurse's desk. The nurse behind the counter looked up at us.

"Can I help you?" she asked. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. No I just came here for the fun of it, I thought. I felt Bobby's chest rumble with laughter.

"She has a broken foot," he said to nurse dumb ass.

"I'll get a wheelchair," she said walking back the hallway. Bobby stood there still holding me.

"I think I'll be ok to stand," I said. He looked at me and grinned.

"Probably." He still continued to hold me. Nurse dumb ass showed back up and Bobby sat me down and helped me into the wheelchair.

"Thank you so much," I said looking up at him. "Really you have done so much for me, I really do appreciate it."

"You're very welcome," he said as the nurse started to wheel me away.

"Come by the restaurant," I called over my shoulder turning to look for him.

He was gone.

Bobby's POV 

I hopped back into Tank's Hummer and we headed back to RangeMan. She was a hottie. There was no doubt about that. To bad she had a boyfriend or husband. At least that is what it sounded like to me. You don't just call someone 'Hun' and tell them that you would love them forever.

"What's up with you?" Tank asked smiling. I shook my head.

"She called me a knight in shining armor."

Tank burst out laughing. "You're fucking kidding me right?"

"No," I said chuckling. "I'm completely serious."

"Damn, you going over to her restaurant?"

"Na, she's attached."

"Did she tell you that?"

"No, but she called someone named Alberto in the car, and told him she would love him forever." I don't know exactly why but I didn't like _Alberto_ much. Who in the hell is named _Alberto_?

"Alberto? Sounds gay. Or French," Tank chuckled.

"He's a lucky bastard though. Damn did you see those legs?"

"Hell yeah. She was defiantly a little hottie. Now do you see the reason that we needed to go to the other side of Trenton for a run this morning?" Tank said laughing.

"Huh. Lot of good it did me." It really did suck. I mean hey, I should be glad that I got to be with her as long as I did, right?

I don't say this often, but she is way the hell out of my league. I mean I'm not a bad looking guy. I get hit on a lot. Especially since Lester was out of the running.

Since he met Marisa he was officially off the market. Never thought I would see the day.

It makes it easier to pick up chics if Lester isn't with you.

I hadn't seriously dated a woman since I came to Trenton seven years ago. Hell as a matter of fact I hadn't seriously dated a woman since Katie. That was in college and we split when I decided to join the Army. Let's face it. My job really cuts into date time. So I look for that 'meaningful one night relationship'. I really didn't want a long-term relationship. To messy. But I had to admit there were a few times when I came home I thought it would be nice to have someone waiting for me.

Maybe I should get a dog. Hell, I don't even have time for a dog.

Tank pulled into the lot at RangeMan and parked.

"Still think you should go to the restaurant," he said getting out.

"What about _Alberto?"_ I said sarcastically.

"Fuck Alberto," Tank said as we got into the elevator. Tank hit the button for the 4th floor.

I laughed and shook my head. Fuck _Alberto_. Lucky bastard. Hell I had to wonder what Alberto had that I didn't. Maybe he was French. I'm nothing but a guy from Nebraska. Giselle seemed pretty exotic, and gorgeous. Maybe really hot women like her went for guys named _Alberto_.

Lucky French bastard.

I got off the 4th floor and headed to my apartment. I went in and took a quick shower. I looked at the clock it was 7:30. I shrugged on my RangeMan gear and headed up to the 5th floor. I got off the elevator and saw Tank chatting with Lester in the control room.

"Hey what's up my knight in shining armor?" Lester said busting out laughing.

"Fuck you," I said laughing.

"Are we a little sensitive this morning," he teased. "Oh come on Brown. You gonna go over to her restaurant or not?"

"Nope."

"I think you should," he said. "Fuck Alberto."

I couldn't help but laugh at that one. "Jesus Tank, couldn't wait to come and gossip I see," I said walking into the break room. I grabbed a muffin and a cup of coffee. I sat down and flipped through the paper enjoying my breakfast. It didn't last long.

"Come on man," Lester said rolling into the break room. "What have you got to loose? You go over and let her feed you. The foods great over there. Marisa and I went there the other night. Maybe you can find out who Alberto is. Maybe it's her brother?" I shot him a look.

"You ever tell your brother you would love them forever?"

"If I had a brother I would. You know I'm the sensitive type."

"So I hear," I said going back to reading my paper.

"I heard she was a hell of a hottie."

"Don't want to talk about it," I said concentrating on the paper, not really reading it.

"You should go," he said walking back toward the control room. I put the paper down and sighed. Maybe I should go? She did invite me. No. I was not going to go. She needed help and I helped her. End of story.

I got up and headed toward my office. I had a shit load of work to get done today. I sat down and started on all the stupid paper work. Since Steph wasn't doing searches for us anymore, guess who got her load. I wish the hell she would come back to work for RangeMan. We needed her. Ranger needed her. He had been a miserable bastard since she quit.

That's why I don't want to get to involved with someone. Look at those two? Anyone could see that they loved each other. It drove them nuts. I don't need that shit. I worked on running searches until about 12:30.

Lester popped his head into my office. "Wanna grab lunch?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Sure where you headed?"

"Shorty's."

"Sounds good," I said standing up and following him out.

We hopped into Lester's Range Rover and headed over to Shorty's.

Shorty's is a dump. Really it is. It's in one of the shittiest parts of Trenton. But we love it there. We know everyone and the pizza isn't half bad. Lester and I rolled in and took a booth in the back. The waitress came over and we both ordered the usual. Large pepperoni. We bullshitted for a few and Lester's phone rang. I could tell by his expression. It was Marisa.

Pathetic, I thought. There is another reason that I don't need a long-term relationship. Lester was whipped. He never hung out with the guys anymore. Well hardly ever. I mean Marisa is a cool chic but damn. I just couldn't see myself following some chic around the way he did her. He did look happy though. That was great for him. Not my style.

The waitress brought our pizza and we plowed through it. We both threw a couple of bills on the table and headed back to RangeMan.

"When are you going to go?" Lester asked as we pulled back into RangeMan.

"Where?"

"You know where."

"I'm not."

"Why not?"

"Alberto."

"Fuck Alberto."

"Still not going. Will you please drop it?"

"Fine. But let me say this. You're an idiot."

"Why am I an idiot?"

"Never know until you try man," Lester said getting out and walking toward the elevator.

"I'm not going," I said following him.

"Whatever," he snorted.

I went to The Alcove three weeks later.

Giselle's POV 

Six weeks. I have to wear this damn cast for six weeks. I only had three more to go. Since the review came out in the Trenton Times, we were fucking slammed. We got 4 out of 5 forks, and we had been packed ever since.

I got this boot thing on so I can walk on the cast. It still hurts, but I have to work. I was behind the line on sauté supervising. Alberto said I was a pain, but he understands. This is my baby. This is my dream.

It was about 6:30 on a Thursday night and one of the waitresses Sandy came back to the kitchen.

"Chef," she called.

"Yeah Sandy," I answered. Her face was all flushed.

"There is some hot ass guy out there and he asked for you."

"For me?" Who in the hell? No, it couldn't be. I would have thought he would have come before now. I had watched for him. I gave up last week. I was sure he wouldn't show. I hobbled out from behind the line. "Alberto," I called. He stuck his head around the corner. "I'm off the line. Watch those guys." We were training a couple of new people and they needed constant supervision.

"You got it, Elle," he answered.

I walked out into the restaurant. There he was. Damn he looked good enough to eat. He was wearing khaki pants and a long sleeve merlot color dress shirt. The shirt fit tight across his broad shoulders. His short dark hair looked like he had just had it cut. Military style, but still cute. Yum. Was all I could think. I suddenly became very self-conscious of my stained chef jacket.

"Hey there," I said as I hobbled up to him. His face broke out into a huge grin.

"Hey, your mobile I see."

"Barely," I snorted. "Did you come for dinner?"

"No actually I came to see you."

Ok, this is the part where my mouth drops open and I make a fool of myself.

"Uh, ok," I stuttered. I motioned to Sandy. "Sandy could you please show this nice gentleman to table 6. I'll be there in a moment. I've got to take care of something in the kitchen. Please, will you have dinner?" He looked a little hesitant. "Come on, let me feed you." I said.

He flashed me a brilliant smile and nodded. "Oh, by the way. Any food allergies?" I asked.

"No."

"Any dislikes?"

"No," he said grinning.

"Excellent, I'll be there in a moment." I turned and hobbled back to the kitchen. "Alberto!" I yelled.

"What," he said coming around the corner.

"It's him, he's here," I said pulling off my chef coat.

"Who Mr. Knight in shining armor?"

"YES! Quick, get me a clean coat." Alberto ran to the back and brought me a fresh jacket. "He's having dinner," I said hobbling back behind the line.

"Aren't you going to join him?"

"I just want to make sure that everything is perfect," I answered. "Fire a stuffed mushroom. Ordering a Sea Bass. And Ryan," I said to the kid on sauté. "Don't fuck it up."

"Yes Chef," he answered. I turned and hobbled back off the line.

"Alberto," I called.

"I'm on it Elle," he said heading back behind the line.

I took a deep breath and pulled my hair down out of the knot on my head and shook it out. I saw Sandy and she gave me a thumbs up. I headed back out into the dining room. I walked over to table 6 and sat down across from him.

"Well this is a surprise," I said grinning at him. He looked really nervous then.

"I thought that you said…"

"I did. What took you so long?"

He flashed me another brilliant smile. "I wasn't sure if I should come."

"Why not? I invited you."

"Just thought I'd give it some time."

What does that mean? He took his sweet time I thought. I had thought about him A LOT over the past few weeks. I even went as far as to drive over to where he works. I was going to bring him and Tank lunch. I chickened out by the time I got there and ended up coming back to the restaurant. Alberto had been teasing me mercilessly since then.

"So where's your horse?" I asked jokingly.

"Left it at home today," he returned smiling. Whew, did it just get hotter in here? He raised the temp in here by at least ten degrees when he smiled. Sandy walked up to the table.

"Can I interest you in something to drink?" she asked us. Bobby looked at her.

"I'll have a Newcastle."

"Chef, can I get you something?"

"I'll have the same." Sandy nodded and headed toward the bar.

"Wow this place is something," he said looking around.

"Thank you. We have worked really hard to get here. I couldn't have done it without Alberto. He's my right hand," I said smiling. Bobby glanced at me and gave me a tight-lipped smile.

Alberto came out with the food then. He placed the crab stuffed mushrooms in front of Bobby. "Imperial crab stuffed mushrooms with a sherry lobster cream sauce," he stated.

"Alberto, this is Bobby Brown. Bobby this is my Sous Chef Alberto Lorenta." Alberto extended his hand and Bobby took it.

"It's so nice to finally meet you. I have heard a lot about you." I shot him a look. Bobby didn't need to know that I had been talking about him. "If it weren't for you Elle would still be laying along side that trail," Alberto said winking at me.

"It's nice to meet you also," Bobby nodded. "I'm sure she would have made it back eventually."

"Ah but to be rescued by, what was it Elle? Oh yes 'a knight in shining armor' that makes it much more interesting," Alberto said grinning from ear to ear.

"Don't you have something that you should be doing in the kitchen?" I said shooting him the death ray. Alberto let out a full laugh and headed back toward the kitchen. "The only reason I keep him around is because he can cook. I don't know how in the hell his wife puts up with him," I shrugged.

Bobby looked at me with a surprised look on his face. What the hell was that about? Then his face broke out in a heart-stopping smile. He looked down at his food. "Wow this looks amazing."

"Eat, eat," I encouraged. Sandy came over with our drinks. I took mine and drained half of it. That's better. God knows I needed something to take the edge off.

"Oh my God Giselle, this is unbelievable," Bobby said in between bites.

"I'm glad you like it."

"What all is in here?"

"Sorry soldier, that's classified. I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you," I said laughing. Bobby threw back his head and laughed.

"Yes Ma'am," he responded with a salute. He finished his mushrooms and sat back and took a long swig out of his beer. I watched the muscles in his throat as he swallowed.

Who knew you could get turned on by watching someone drink a beer? I picked mine up and realized I had finished it. I motioned to Sandy to get me another. "You're not eating?"

"No, I'm good." Hell I didn't think that I could eat right now. My stomach was in knots.

I'm not the kind of woman that gets all tied up over guys. I don't really have time for them. Oh yeah I've dated a few. Mostly I had dated other chef's whose schedules were as fucked up as mine. I had been thinking lately that I would like to meet someone though. I was turning 30 in a couple of months and I guess that I was starting to think that was the next step.

"So have you always lived in Trenton?" he asked. Sandy brought over my drink and sat it down and cleared the plate in front of Bobby.

"Thanks Sandy," I said taking a long sip. "No I was born in New York. I grew up there. I worked at the Four Season's in New York City for a few years and I decided that I really wanted my own place. I looked on the internet and found this place for sale. So I'm in Trenton. What about you? You from here?"

"No, Nebraska. I grew up on a huge farm. I went to college at the University of Nebraska for a couple of years then I joined the Army. I was a Ranger for 4 years. I moved to Trenton about seven years ago after I got out, to work with my friend who owns RangeMan."

"Do you have any siblings?'

"Yeah a younger sister. Sarah lives in Dallas. She works as a paralegal down there. So what about you? Any siblings?" he asked leaned across the table. I took a deep breath, this man oozed sex.

"No, I'm an only child. My Dad is an engineer, and my mom is a stay at home mom. I learned how to cook from her and my grandmother."

"That how you ended up being a chef?"

"Yeah I guess so," I said with a laugh. "I went to the Culinary Institute of America right out of high school. As long as I can remember I was in the kitchen with my Mom or Grandma. It's all I've ever done."

Alberto came out of the kitchen with the Sea Bass. He was pulling all of the stops out tonight. Alberto never comes out of the kitchen. Guess he figured that Bobby deserved the V.I.P. treatment. He sat the plate down in front of Bobby.

"Pan seared Sea Bass with sautéed ginger and garlic Napa cabbage and a Sesame and Chili oil drizzle. This is a creation of Elle's and rated 'the best sea bass in the city' by the Trenton Times."

"Wow," Bobby said looking down at the food.

"Yeah but you were the one that pulled it off. We had our review the night I broke my foot. If it hadn't been for Alberto, we would have been sunk. There was no way that I could have cooked that night. Thankfully I have him," I said smiling up at Alberto.

"Yeah your damn lucky to have me," Alberto said heading back toward the kitchen. I laughed at him as he walked away.

"Smart ass," I chuckled. Bobby was tearing into the fish.

"Giselle, you have out done yourself. This is fantastic," he said taking another bite.

He closed his eyes and savored the flavors. I love to watch people eat. Especially someone that loves to eat. Shit, my panties were getting wet watching him. He opened his eyes and looked at me. I instantly felt flushed. He grinned.

"I'm glad that you are enjoying the food," I stammered.

"So are you married?" he blurted out. I stopped and looked at him.

"No."

"So you and Alberto aren't an item then?"

"Hell no," I snorted. "As I said Alberto is married and he has a daughter. We've been friends for a long time. Hell I was even in his wedding. Why would you think that we were an item?"

"In the car you called him. It sounded like you two were very close."

I thought back to that day trying to remember what I had said to Alberto. Hell I didn't remember. I was way to stressed out at the time, and I probably said something horribly disgusting. Who knows?

"Is that why it took you so long to come by? You thought that I was with Alberto?" I said with a giggle. The thought was pretty funny.

"Yeah, I didn't want to step on anyone's toes."

I threw back my head and laughed. I laughed until tears were rolling down my face. So he thought I was dating Alberto. HA! Little did Bobby know I didn't have time to date anyone, and if I did it sure as hell wouldn't be Alberto. I looked over at him. He had that boyish grin on his face.

"Silly huh?" he asked. I couldn't say anything. I could only shake my head.

"Yeah, pretty silly," I coughed.

"So would you like to go out with me sometime?" he asked sitting back taking another sip of his beer. I looked over at him kind of shocked. I blinked a few times.

"Yeah that would be very nice."

He flashed me another dazzling smile. Whew, he was too much I thought.

"How about Sunday?"

"Sunday is good. What time?"

"Say about 6? Would you like for me to pick you up?"

"If you want. I live over on Talbot Street. Do you know where that is?

"I can find it," he answered smiling.

Bobby's POV 

I was blown away when I walked into the restaurant. This place was really nice. It wasn't big, only about 20 tables. The walls were done in a deep red and the floor was a dark tile. I asked the cute little waitress if Giselle was here. She nodded and took off toward the back.

I couldn't help but smile when she came hobbling out of the back. She had some kind of red sauce splashed across the front of her chef jacket. She still looked gorgeous. Her startling green eyes lit up when she saw me. That has to be a good sign.

I had thought about little else but her over the past few weeks. I finally got the balls to come down here. I had debated this over and over. Finally after much debate I decided to 'Fuck Alberto'. Hell Lester was right, you don't know until you try.

After she disappeared into the back I sat at the table and tried to get my nerves to calm down. I was pretty nervous. I wasn't sure how all of this was going to go. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. I could get up and leave. I was contemplating just leaving when she came back out.

Her dark hair was down and I noticed that she had changed out of her dirty chef jacket. She looked amazing. Giselle gimped her way back out and sat down at the table with a thud.

"Well this is a surprise," she said smiling at me.

"I thought that you said…"

"I did. What took you so long?"

"I wasn't sure if I should come."

"Why not? I invited you," she said giving me a puzzled look.

"Just thought I'd give it some time." Ok that was an understatement. What I really should have said was 'I needed to get the balls to come down here.'

She was something else. She was stunning. That is the only word that I could use to describe her. She was one of those drop dead gorgeous women, that didn't know she was beautiful or just didn't care. She was completely down to earth.

"So where's your horse?" she asked teasingly smiling. That smile. Christ I was getting hard just sitting here.

"Left it at home today," I answered her grinning. The cute waitress came over and took our drink order. Ah, she drinks Newcastle. A good thing.

"Wow, this place is really nice."

"Thank you. We have worked really hard to get here. I couldn't have done it without Alberto. He's my right hand," she said fondly. _Alberto_, I thought. Fuck Alberto.

I glanced up and saw a tall, thin, dark skinned man walking toward us. He placed a plate in front of me. "Imperial crab stuffed mushrooms with a sherry lobster cream sauce," he stated.

"Alberto, this is Bobby Brown. Bobby this is my Sous Chef Alberto Lorenta." Alberto extended his hand and I took it.

"It's so nice to finally meet you. I have heard a lot about you. If it weren't for you Elle would still be laying along side that trail," Alberto said winking at Giselle. Yeah I really didn't like him.

"It's nice to meet you also. I'm sure she would have made it back eventually."

"Ah but to be rescued by, what was it Elle? Oh yes 'a knight in shining armor' that makes it much more interesting," Alberto said grinning from ear to ear.

"Don't you have something that you should be doing in the kitchen?" Giselle snapped at him. Alberto threw his head back and laughed and walked back toward the kitchen. "The only reason I keep him around is because he can cook. I don't know how in the hell his wife puts up with him," Giselle said shaking her head. A light blush had tinged her cheeks.

So _Alberto_ is married. This is good to know.

"Wow this looks amazing."

"Eat, eat," she encouraged. The waitress came over with our drinks. I noticed that she drained half of hers. So I'm not the only one who is nervous. Another good thing to know.

"Oh my God Giselle, this is unbelievable," I said in between bites. And I was true. The mushrooms melted in my mouth and the crab had a little spice to it.

"I'm glad you like it."

"What all is in here?"

"Sorry soldier, that's classified. I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you," she said laughing. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes Ma'am," I responded giving her a little salute. "You're not eating?"

"No, I'm good," she said. The waitress brought her another beer and we talked for a while. She told me about growing up in New York and how she ended up in Trenton. It was obvious this place was her pride and joy. As it should have been. It was amazing. I told her about growing up in Nebraska. I looked up and saw Alberto coming with another plate.

"Pan seared Sea Bass with sautéed ginger and garlic Napa cabbage and a Sesame and Chili oil drizzle. This is a creation of Elle's and rated 'the best sea bass in the city' by the Trenton Times," Alberto said placing the plate in front of me.

"Wow," was all I could say as I looked down at the beautiful plate.

"Yeah but you were the one that pulled it off. We had our review the night I broke my foot. If it hadn't been for Alberto, we would have been sunk. There was no way that I could have cooked that night. Thankfully I have him," Giselle said smiling up at Alberto.

"Yeah your damn lucky to have me," Alberto said heading back toward the kitchen.

"Smart ass," she said laughing.

"Giselle, you have out done yourself. This is fantastic," I said taking another bite. I closed my eyes. The flavors were so intense. The sweetness of the fish and cabbage combined with the spiciness of the chili oil. It was amazing. I opened my eyes and saw her staring at me. Her face was flushed and her tongue darted out to wet her lips. I couldn't help but grin at her.

"I'm glad that you are enjoying the food," she stammered.

"So are you married?"

"No."

"So you and Alberto aren't an item then?"

"Hell no. As I said Alberto is married and he has a daughter. We've been friends for a long time. Hell I was even in his wedding. Why would you think that we were an item?"

"In the car you called him. It sounded like you two were very close."

"Is that why it took you so long to come by? You thought that I was with Alberto?" she said with a giggle.

"Yeah, I didn't want to step on anyone's toes," I said a little sheepishly. I felt like a 16 year old on his first date. She threw back her head and laughed. Not a chuckle but a full out, hold your sides laugh. I had to smile at her. God she was beautiful. She finally got herself under control and wiped her eyes.

"Silly huh?"

"Yeah, pretty silly," she coughed still trying to control her laughter.

"So would you like to go out with me sometime?" I asked sitting back taking another sip of my beer. She looked up at me kind of shocked and blinked a few times. Don't think she was expecting that.

"Yeah that would be very nice."

"How about Sunday?" I said with a smile.

"Sunday is good. What time?"

"Say about 6? Would you like for me to pick you up?"

"If you want. I live over on Talbot Street. Do you know where that is?"

"I can find it."

We sat for a while longer and had coffee. The place was getting packed.

"I think that I am going to have to get back to the kitchen," Giselle said.

"Looks like it's getting busy."

"Yeah, ever since the review we have been packed every night," she said with a smile, looking around the restaurant. She turned her gaze back on me then. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement. "I'm really glad that you finally decided to come down here."

"Me too," I said motioning for the waitress. When she came to the table I asked, "Could I please get the check?"

"Nonsense. You are not going to pay for dinner. I happen to know the owner, and I know that she wouldn't allow it," Giselle answered with a dazzling smile.

"Thank you," I said standing. Giselle pulled herself up with her crutch. The waitress rushed back to our table.

"Chef, Alberto needs you in the kitchen," she said throwing a panicked glance towards the back.

"Tell him I'll be right there."

The waitress hurried back to the back. Giselle looked up at me and shrugged.

"Duty calls," she shrugged. "I guess that I will see you Sunday then?"

"Wouldn't miss it," I said smiling down at her. She nodded and flashed me another smile and gimped her way toward the back.

I headed out to my truck and drove back to RangeMan. That defiantly went better than I thought. I wasn't sure what in the hell to do on Sunday. I didn't want to take her to a restaurant. I think that she gets enough of that. Dinner and a movie is kind of the normal type of date. I was really going to have to put some thought into this one.

Damn she's hot. That thought kept running through my mind as I pulled onto Haywood. I parked in the garage and hopped out beeping my truck locked. I walked toward the elevator when the doors opened and Lester stepped out.

"Hey Santos."

"Hey Bobby. Where have you been to be all dressed up?" he asked with a grin.

"Out."

"You went didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"Got a date Sunday."

"What about _Alberto_?" he asked grinning.

"Alberto is her Sous Chef. He's married with a kid."

Lester let out a hoop of laughter. "And you got your panties all in a wad for nothing? Priceless." Just then his cell phone rang.

"I didn't get my panties in a wad."

"Bullshit," he said pulling his cell off of his belt.

"At least I'm not pussy whipped," I called getting into the elevator.

"Nope, your not lucky enough for that," he called answering his cell. "Hey cutie, I'm on my way home now."

Pathetic, I thought as the elevator doors shut. I hit the button for the 4th floor. I couldn't help but grin as I thought about tonight. Giselle was awesome. She was so down to earth and hell she could cook. That is a definite bonus.

The elevator stopped on the 4th floor and I made my way to my apartment. I opened the door and laid my keys on the small table in the entry. I sat down on the couch and turned on the T.V.

I tried to get interested in some Wesley Snipes movie, but I kept thinking about Giselle. I couldn't seem to get her out of my head. Last night I had an unreal dream about her. I hadn't had a dream like that since high school. Tonight she looked amazing even in her frumpy chef clothes. I couldn't wait for Sunday. Still didn't know where in the hell I was going to take her though.

I clicked off the T.V. and decided to take a shower and hit the sack. My cell rang. I glanced at it. Ranger. I wasn't on call. Something was up.

"Brown."

"Yo, need some back up. FTA went nuts and Tank took one in the arm. I got Cal and Ram on the way. Could use you." Ranger said.

"Where are you?" I asked shucking off my dress slacks and reaching for my cargos.

"Stark."

"See you in 15," I said closing the phone. Within minutes I was dressed, fully armed and out the door.

Giselle's POV 

I sure as hell didn't expect him to show up tonight, I thought as I drove home. But damn, what a lucky girl am I. And he certainly looked good enough to eat tonight. I pulled into my parking lot, and hobbled across the parking lot, smiling the whole way.

He thought I was with Alberto! HA! Alberto almost pissed himself when I told him. That certainly explains what took him so long. I entered the elevator and pressed the 3rd floor. I let myself into my apartment and went to the kitchen. I opened the fridge and pulled out a beer and made my way over to the sofa. I flopped down on the sofa with a soft thump. I was never going to get used to this damn cast. Only three more weeks.

What in the hell was I going to wear Sunday? It's hard to look sexy when you have a huge piece of plaster on your leg. And for some reason I really wanted to look sexy on Sunday. I don't get to play dress up often. I was really looking forward to this. I sat my beer on the coffee table and made my way to the bathroom. I shucked off my chef gear and strapped a trash bag around my foot and hobbled into the shower.

After I finally got out of the shower, I slipped on a pair of sweat pants and an old t-shirt and hobbled back into the living room. I sat down on the couch and propped up my foot. I flipped through the channels for a few and finally turned it off. I don't watch a lot of TV. I picked up a book that I was currently trying to read, but couldn't get interested in it.

My mind kept traveling back to Bobby. I lay on the sofa and contemplated Sunday. Where would we go? I really hadn't had much time to try any restaurants in Trenton since I had been here. I have been so busy. I wondered if he was thinking dinner and movie. Honestly I could care less where we go. Just the thought of hanging out with him was enough.

I started to doze. Man I was exhausted. I heard a loud crash outside my apartment door, and instantly sat up. I heard a female voice.

"SHIT!" she yelled.

I got up and hobbled over to the door and opened it. I saw two women standing in the hallway, a large black woman in neon orange spandex, and a white lady with crazy curly brown hair.

"When we catch that old bastard I'm gonna shoot his ass!" the black lady yelled.

"You aren't going to shoot anyone," the other replied.

"Just look at my Via Spaga's!" the black lady yelled as she pulled the heel off of her shoe.

"Are you guys ok?" I asked. They both turned and looked at me.

"We're ok. You live here?" the white lady asked. Wow she had some seriously scary hair.

"Yeah."

"You know the old fart in 317?" the black lady huffed.

"Mr. Peterson?"

"Yeah that old bastard. Made me run and break the heel off of my shoe. I'm gonna kick the shit out of his old wrinkled ass," she spat.

"What do you want with Mr. Peterson?" I asked. Mr. Peterson lived down from me. He was kind of creepy. For 83 he was a feisty old man. He always stared at my breasts and he tried to grab my ass in the elevator one time.

"He missed his court date. We are here to get him rescheduled," the one with the crazy hair said.

"Let me see if I can get him to come out," I said grabbing my crutch. They followed me down the hall. I knocked on the door. "Mr. Peterson? It's Giselle," I called through the door. Mr. Peterson opened the door.

"Well hello there Giselle," he said eyeing my up and down. "What brings you here tonight?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows. Gross, I thought.

"Mr. Peterson, these two ladies need to have a word with you," I said motioning over my shoulder. Mr. Peterson looked and frowned. He stepped back and slammed the door. "Well, I tried."

I turned to walk back down the hall and I heard the door open again. I turned and Mr. Peterson had a gun.

"Shit, the old fart is going to shoot at us!" the black one yelled.

"Mr. Peterson, all we need to do is take you to reschedule your court date. You will be out in no time," the one with the crazy hair said. She was slowly backing up. I hobbled closer to my open apartment door.

"I'm not going anywhere with you and that orange blob," he said trying to aim his gun. I dashed into my apartment and left the door open. I heard a shot, and saw the two ladies run back down the hall. The one with the crazy hair ran inside my apartment.

"Orange blob!" the other one screamed. "You old fart don't you know that a full figured woman as myself needs to dress in bright colors!"

"Lula!" the other one screamed and pulled her into my apartment.

"What the hell was that?" I asked. They both turned and looked at me.

"I'm sorry to drag you into this. We are Bond Enforcement agents and we need to take him in. I'm Stephanie Plum," she said extending her hand. I shook it. "This is Lula, my assistant." I nodded at Lula.

"What did Mr. Peterson do?" I asked.

"He shook his wanker at some women at the mall," Lula answered.

"Gross," I said wrinkling my nose. The thought of Mr. Peterson's wanker……yuck!

"Can you believe that crazy old coot? Girl you know how to pick 'em," Lula said shaking her head at Stephanie.

"I'm tired of messing around with this old guy. Three freaking days we've been trying to catch him. He's freaking 80 years old! We can't take down an 80 year old?!" Stephanie said as she started to pace.

"Hunh, I could take his old wrinkled ass down. Just that this is your FTA and I wouldn't want to take all that fun away from you," Lula said as she studied the broken heel of her shoe.

"Guys, we should call the police," I said looking over at them. I hobbled over and picked up the cordless phone.

"No, don't call the police," Stephanie said.

"But he's shooting in the hallway!"

"Girl you better call Batman," Lula said.

I glanced back and forth between the two of them. These two are nuts! Batman? What kind of nut jobs are these two?

Stephanie pulled out her cell and hit speed dial.

"Yo, yourself. I need a hand," she said into the phone biting her lip. "We are having some trouble with a skip," she paused. " He shot at us! I know, I know, it's nothing new, but I really need to get this guy." She chatted for a few moments gave him the address and hung up.

"Batman on the way?" Lula asked.

"Batman?" I said looking at the two of them. These women are beyond cracked.

"Yeah, Batman. You never heard of him?" Lula said putting her hands on her hips.

"No, can't say that I have."

"Ranger isn't coming. He's sending someone. They had some trouble tonight and Tank got shot," Stephanie said.

"Tank!" I exclaimed. They both turned and looked at me.

"How do you know Tank?" Lula said stepping toward me. She was looking me up and down. "How would some skinny little white girl like you know Tank?"

"Well I don't really know him well or anything….." I started.

"Hunh, I got plans for that man so you'd best be backin' off. Tank is mine," Lula said huffily.

"If it's the Tank that I am thinking of, you don't have anything to worry about," I said shaking my head at her. I walked back over and sat back down on the couch and took a sip of my beer. I was watching the two of them out of the corner of my eye. "You girl's are welcome to hang out here until The Justice League arrives," I said warily.

"Thanks. How do you know Tank?" Stephanie asked as she continued to pace. Lula flopped down in the chair to my right.

"Long story. You two do this kind of shit all the time?" I asked.

"We're some Badass bounty hunters, of course we do this shit all of the time," Lula answered me looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

"I don't know how Badass we are. We can't even take down a 80 year old man," Stephanie grumbled.

A few minutes later a knock came on the door. I got up and hobbled over to the door. I opened it and Bobby stood there looking at me in surprise. OMG! What in the hell?

"What are you doing here?" I said suddenly becoming conscious of the fact that I was wearing dumpy sweats and a ratty t-shirt. I had thought he looked good earlier, but it didn't even come close to right now.

Bobby was dressed all in black. Black boots, black cargo pants, black t-shirt. The tops of his arms strained against the sleeves of his shirt and fit tight across his broad shoulders. You could see his pecs through the shirt. I caught myself looking him over. WOW! That was all that ran through my mind.

"Giselle? I thought this was the address Stephanie gave Ranger," he said looking at me. I watched as he looked me up and down and slowly grinned. I felt a flush sweep over me. God he would have to catch me like this.

"Bobby," Stephanie called as she came to the door. I hobbled back so he could enter. I tried to smooth out my hair with my hand. It was almost dry and really tangled. I knew I had to look like crap. Why did he have to show up here now?

Bobby walked into my apartment with a huge grin on his face. He nodded to Stephanie and Lula and looked back at me still smiling. "Guess I won't have any trouble finding this place Sunday," he said with a laugh.

"Guess not," I mumbled.

"You two know each other?" Lula said. I glanced over at her.

"We have a date on Sunday," Bobby replied still looking at me.

"How's Tank?" I asked.

"He's ok. Took one in the arm, he should be fine," he said studying me.

"This is what you do for a living? I thought you worked as a security guard," I said in disbelief.

"A security guard?" Stephanie giggled. Lula let out a loud laugh.

"I do work in the security business, but we also do fugitive apprehension on the side. For fun of course," he said winking at me. His blue eyes were twinkling. I couldn't stop looking at him. Every time I looked away my gaze was drawn back to him. He looked unbelievable.

"So your like a bounty hunter?" I asked still in disbelief. Bobby flashed me a heart-stopping grin.

"Only for fun."

FUN! So this is what's wrong with Mr. Perfect. He's a fucking whack job! Some crazy ass adrenaline junkie.

"For fun?" I was trying to comprehend what he was telling me. My mind couldn't seem to wrap around this.

"Yeah, for fun," he said taking another step closer to me. It suddenly got very hot in here. I looked up at him and he smiled. My heart actually fluttered.

This shit doesn't happen to me. I never get all goofy over some guy. Damn who am I kidding? Bobby isn't just some guy.

"Bobby I hate to break up this reunion and all, but I need to get my skip," Stephanie said grinning. Bobby turned and looked at her. She told him about Mr. Peterson. They quickly came up with a plan.

I hobbled back over and sat down on the couch. Mr. Perfect was nuts. Of course he's nuts. Isn't that what always happens?

"Elle," Bobby said. I quickly looked over at him. So he was using my nickname now. He was a far cry from the nervous guy I had seen only a few hours ago. Now he seemed super confident. He moved like a predator.

The scary part is that he was so hot I didn't know what to do.

"Yeah."

"I'll be back in a few," he said giving me a wink. He followed Stephanie and Lula out the door.

God, what have I gotten myself into?

Bobby POV 

The last person that I ever expected to open that door was Giselle. I could tell by her expression that I was the last person she expected. Damn how could she still manage to look that hot in old sweats and a t-shirt?

I noticed how she was trying to smooth out her hair, and she seemed a little nervous standing in front of me. I wasn't sure what was running though her head when she found out exactly what my job was. I hadn't really gone into detail. Didn't feel the need too.

As Steph and I came up with a plan to take the wanker guy down, I noticed Giselle moved over to sit on the couch. She was listening to us and her beautiful green eyes were getting wider by the minute.

"Why don't you just pull some Rambo shit and kick his door down?" Lula said. I grinned and shook my head.

"He's an old man how hard can it be?" I said.

"Harder than you think," Steph shrugged. We came up with the plan that would knock on the door and ask him to come with us. If that didn't work, I would remove him from his apartment, with the up most care of course. Hell I don't need to be breaking some 80 year old mans arm.

"We could just stun his ass," Lula said standing up.

"Don't want to do that unless we have too. Might give him a friggin' heart attack," I said shaking my head. "Just follow my lead."

Lula and Steph started walking out the door. I turned and looked at Giselle. "Elle," I said grinning. I loved her nickname.

"Yeah," she answered her eyes wide.

"I'll be back in a few." I followed Steph and Lula down the hall.

The take down went very easily. Turns out Mr. Wanker didn't want to be taken in by a couple of broads. His exact words. I escorted him down to Steph's car and got him in the back. He put up a fight when he found out they would be taking him to the station. We got him settled though.

"Thanks Bobby," Steph said grinning. "I like your girlfriend," she laughed as she hopped into the car. I shook my head and walked back into the building. I headed back up to Elle's apartment. Since I was here, I should stop by right?

I knocked on the door and Elle opened up. I looked at her. She had changed her ratty t-shirt to a much newer looking one and had pulled her hair up. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," she said hobbling away from the door. She went back over and sat back down on the couch. I shut the door and took the chair next to her.

"I guess that you weren't expecting me?"

"That's an understatement. Why didn't you tell me that you were a bounty hunter?"

"I'm not. I told you I just do it for fun. Does it matter?"

"Well…..I….I don't know," she answered taking a sip of beer. "I didn't realize that your job was so dangerous. Do you get shot at a lot?"

Oh crap here we go. This is the part where she lays the shit on me that she can't see me because of my job.

"I wouldn't say a lot."

"But you do get shot at?" she asked incredulously.

"Sometimes."

"Christ," she swore under her breath. She looked over at me and I could see all sorts of things running through her head. She pulled herself up with her crutch. "Would you care for something to drink?" she asked as she hobbled toward the kitchen. I stood up.

"You sit down. You've been on your foot all day. Rest." I walked over to the kitchen and opened the fridge. I pulled out a bottle of water and another beer for her. She looked like she needed another. I went back into the living room and handed her the beer. She looked at me and smiled.

"That transparent?"

"I'm just good at reading people," I answered sitting on the couch next to her. "So is this the part where you tell me that you can't see me now?"

"Why in the hell would you say that?"

"Well I'm not exactly sure how you feel about my job. Some women can't handle it."

"Oh no we're still going out. And feel free to dress up like Rambo if you want," she said with a grin. I had to laugh.

"What you don't want me to wear my armor?" I said sliding closer to her. God she was gorgeous. I wanted to kiss those perfect lips.

"I think I prefer this look," she said with a grin. I smiled and moved in closer. She met me half way. I placed a light kiss on her lips then slowly traced her upper lip with my tongue. She moaned and kissed me harder.

WOW! This was some kiss! I felt myself get completely hard in a nanosecond. I pulled her closer to me and felt her wrap her arms around my shoulders. I thrust my tongue into her mouth. God she was so sweet. Then she took control.

I wasn't used to this. I am always the one that has to initiate things. Hell looks like Elle likes to be in the driver seat. That's cool with me.

She pulled my bottom lip in between her teeth and sucked. Christ! Then she thrust her tongue in my mouth and moved on top of me. Her perfect little ass was sitting right on top of my hard cock. She ground herself against me and I let out a moan. I grabbed her hips and pulled her tighter against me. I ran my hand up the back of her shirt and unhooked her bra. I reached around and cupped her breast tweaking the nipple.

Her breast filled my hand perfectly. Elle moaned and broke the kiss. She looked down at me. Her green eyes sparkled with passion and her lips were slightly swollen. She looked amazing.

"This isn't something I normally do. Especially since we haven't officially went on a date yet," she said grinning.

"What was earlier tonight?"

God I wanted her bad. No bad isn't the word. Desperately was more like it. I moved my other hand up and cupped her other breast. Elle moaned and leaned into my palms grinding against me. I pulled my hand out from her shirt and drug her back down to my mouth. Elle reached down and pulled my shirt from my pants. She ran her hand up my stomach. She broke the kiss.

"I guess that was a date," she said with a grin. She reached down and pulled her t-shirt and bra off with one quick motion. I sat back and looked at her. Beautiful doesn't even begin to describe her. I leaned up and took one of her nipples in my mouth and began to suck as I pulled her against me. "Ouch!" she said and I immediately stopped.

"You ok?"

"Your fucking gun jammed me in the knee."

"Shit, I'm sorry," I said pulling her to the side. I stood up and pulled off my utility belt and laid it on the coffee table. I reached down and took her hand and helped her to her feet. She stood before me. The top of her head just above my chin. I kissed her on the forehead and slowly started kissing down her cheek and to her lips.

Giselle leaned up and kissed me. She began pulling my shirt up. I broke the kiss and reached over my shoulders and pulled my shirt off on one quick motion. Elle looked me over and began kissing on my neck and chest. She was sucking and biting and I don't think that I had ever been so hard in my life.

My cell phone chirped. FUCK!!!!! Elle looked up at me. "I'm sorry," I said as I grabbed my phone. "What!"

"Brown?"

"Yeah Ranger, what's up?"

"Everything go ok with Steph?"

"Yeah it went fine. FTA in custody." Elle was still placing hot kisses on my chest. She nipped at my nipple and I gasped.

"What the fuck are you doing Brown?"

"Nothing. Steph is fine. Do you need me for anything else tonight?"

"Why are you busy?"

"Yeah kinda," that was the understatement of the year.

"With who?"

"Does it matter?" Shit did I just say that to Ranger? Oh FUCK!

"Brown," Ranger growled.

"Sorry man. You just caught me at a bad time," I said looking down at Elle. She gave me a wicked grin and nipped my stomach. I slipped my hand down and pulled her hair free. The long dark tresses fell around her face. She gave me another evil grin and licked back up my chest. I held my breath. Elle giggled. I knew Ranger heard her.

"Who is that?"

"My girlfriend," I looked down at Elle. Her eyes got wide.

"Really? Since when do you have a girlfriend?"

"Well I'm working on that now."

Ranger let out a loud laugh. He doesn't do that often. "No, this was your night off. Go enjoy," he said with a chuckle and disconnected.

"Sorry about that. So where were we," I said grinning.

"Girlfriend?"

I gave her a grin. "Working on it."

Giselle's POV 

After Bobby left my apartment I dashed to the bedroom and quickly changed my shirt. I needed one without holes. I trudged into the bathroom and tried to brush my hair out. I pulled it up into a loose ponytail and walked back into the living room. My mind was still reeling from what I had just witnessed. It isn't everyday that one of my neighbors goes nuts and tries to shoot someone.

I weighed the pros and cons. Bobby was by far the most attractive man I had ever met. He was nice and sweet and he had helped me out in a huge way. Tonight over dinner I just couldn't get over the affect that he had on me. God I could look at him and get wet.

But he has a very dangerous job. I felt a little betrayed that he hadn't told me exactly what he did. Does it matter? Do I want to be in a relationship with someone that could be killed at work anytime? Whoa, slow down. No one has said anything about a relationship. This could just be a fling. I made the decision to treat it as such. I needed to get some things figured out before I thought about going to the next level.

When he came back to my apartment all thoughts that had been running through my head quickly vanished.

It must be the clothes. That is all I can figure. I have never acted like this around any man before. And certainly not one that I hardly knew. I realized how far out of control this had gotten when Bobby answered his phone. I couldn't stop touching him. His eight-pack abs were rock hard, and that wasn't the only thing.

I was on fire. I could just look at him and desire shot through me. I couldn't help but giggle as I licked up his chest and heard him hold his breath. Good to know that I have the same affect on him. I heard him say girlfriend and I stopped.

Holy Shit! Girlfriend?

Ok, maybe this is moving a little to fast. Bobby disconnected the phone and gave me a wicked grin. "Sorry about that. Where were we," he said pulling me closer to him.

"Girlfriend?" I asked looking up at him.

"Working on it," he answered and reached down and cupped my ass and pulled me tighter against him. I could feel him hard against my stomach. I leaned back and looked him in the eye.

"Is that what you are wanting me to be?"

"Maybe. Like I said I'm working on it," he said with a wolf like grin and he crushed his lips to mine. He tongue swooped into my mouth and I moaned and leaned against him. My mind was racing. This was moving way, way to fast but I didn't think that I had the strength to stop it.

A wave of desire washed over me as his hands cupped my breasts and tweaked my nipples.

Fuck it. If I regret this in the morning, I don't care it'll be worth it. I broke the kiss and leaned over and grabbed my crutch.

"Let's take this in here," I said moving towards the bedroom. Bobby chuckled and came behind me and swooped my up into his strong arms, holding me against his chest. My crutch fell to the floor.

"Allow me, baby," he said carrying me toward the bedroom. He opened the door and walked into the dimly lit room. He placed me gently on the bed and followed me down. He placed his hands on either side of my face.

"Elle, if you don't want to do this tell me now. If you don't think that you can with your foot I understand. I think that if this goes on much further I might not be able to stop."

"Don't want you to stop," I said pulling him down on top of me. Bobby chuckled and began kissing my neck. He was biting and sucking where my neck meets my shoulder and I groaned and arched against him. Bobby was pushing my sweat pants down. He sat back and pulled them off of me. He had to work to get them off my cast. He ran his hands up me legs.

"You have the most gorgeous legs," he said kissing my knee. He reached up and tugged my panties down. I lay on the bed completely naked. I sat up with my legs hanging off the side of the bed. Bobby stood before me. I reached out and unfastened his cargos. Bobby stepped away and bent down to pull off his boots.

I was mesmerized at the way the muscles in his shoulders rippled as he moved. He took a gun from his ankle and set it on the nightstand. How many weapons did he have on him? OMG! What am I getting myself into? He reached to his other ankle and pulled out a wicked looking knife and set it on the nightstand also. He stopped and looked at me.

"You ok Elle?"

I guess I must have had a stunned look on my face. "Do you always carry those?"

"Only when I'm working. You ok with that?" he asked looking at me concerned. I watched him tense up waiting for my response. Hell I didn't know what to say.

"I guess in your line of work you need too right?"

He gave me a boyish grin and I saw him relax. "Yeah, perks of the job."

I watched him as he removed his boots and slipped his pants and boxers down. Unbelievable. He was like a sculpture. His muscles flexed and rippled as he moved. He was a big guy. Everywhere. I allowed myself the pleasure of staring at his hard body. My eyes traveled up to his face where he was wearing a huge smile and his blue eyes were twinkling.

"See something you like Elle?"

"You have no idea," I said as I reached out and pulled him closer to me. He chuckled and pushed me back on the bed. His hands were everywhere. Bobby's mouth was magic. He nipped and sucked his way across my chest and took my nipple in his mouth. I clung to him and dug my nails into his hard shoulders.

Bobby kissed his way back up my chest and sucked on my neck. "Elle, you have no idea how much I want you right now," he breathed raggedly in my ear. I moaned and nipped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Show me," I whispered. Bobby growled and flipped me over on my stomach. He stood up and pulled me to where my knees were braced on the edge of the bed. I turned and looked at him over my shoulder. His blue eyes had turned dark. He leaned up and began kissing and licking my back.

I felt myself instantly gush. He was pressed against me and I arched my back and pressed against him. I felt his hand slip down over my ass, and he gently inserted a finger into my wet folds. I cried out and bucked against his hand.

Bobby leaned up and pulled my hair to the side. He was kissing and sucking on my neck and I don't think that I had ever been so hot in my life. I felt like I was going to explode. He inserted another finger and began to brush against my clit.

"Tell me what you want, Elle," he breathed in my ear. I didn't know if I was capable of speech at the moment. I whimpered as I felt his finger increase their speed.

"Ah," I moaned. Bobby lightly bit my shoulder.

"Tell me Elle."

"Fuck me," I gasped. I heard him chuckle as he licked down my spine.

"That what you want baby? You want me to fuck you?"

"God yes," I panted. Bobby's fingers increased their tempo. I felt myself tighten and I cried out as a wave of pleasure washed over me. He withdrew his fingers and I grumbled at the loss of contact. Bobby chuckled again and pulled away from me. I turned and looked at him again over my shoulder. "There are condoms on the nightstand," I breathed.

Bobby reached over and opened the drawer and pulled out a condom. I heard the foil wrapper open and within a moment he was pressed against me. He grasped my hips and pulled me against him. With his other hand he took his hard length into his hand and began rubbing it against my clit and back towards my opening. I moaned and pressed back against him.

"This what you want baby?" he asked as he slipped into me just barely.

"MMMM," I moaned and pressed harder.

"Tell me."

"Yes," I gasped and I pressed back on his hard length. Bobby plunged into me filling me completely. I cried out as another powerful orgasm washed over me. Bobby rode out my orgasm and started moving slowly. I pushed against him faster. He slipped his length almost all the way out of me.

"Tell me Elle. Tell me how you want it."

"Harder," I gasped. He groaned and plunged into me again. I cried out and arched my back. He filled me completely and was touching some deep place inside of me that I had never experienced before. I moved my hips in a circular motion grinding against him loving the sensations that swept through my body.

Bobby pulled back and grasped my hips and began to pound into me. I cried out and met him thrust for thrust.

"God Elle," he groaned as he slipped his hand around to grasp my breast. He began pinching and pulling on my nipple still thrusting into me hard. I cried out as I felt myself begin to tighten again.

"Oh my God!" I cried out.

"No baby, Bobby," he said with a chuckle. "Call my name when you come. I want to hear you scream my name."

I groaned and put my head down on the bed. My hands were grasping the sheets and as another earth shattering orgasm washed over me I screamed his name. I clamped my muscles down on his hard length and I heard Bobby call out my name as he shuddered his release.

Bobby collapsed on top of me and rolled to the side to keep from crushing me. I was laying face down on the bed panting. I opened my eyes and looked at his face. He was lying with his head propped up on his elbow smiling down at me.

"Hey," he said grinning.

"Unh," I responded. Bobby chuckled and reached out and pulled me closer to him.

"You ok?"

"Unh huh," I answered. I wasn't capable of speech. My whole body was still tingling and I felt a wave of euphoria wash over me. Content isn't the word. If I had been a cat I would have been purring. I rolled over so that my back was pressing against his front. Bobby slipped his arm around me and nuzzled against my neck. That was amazing. I had never felt anything like that before. "Wow," I said getting my breathing under control.

"Wow yourself."

We lay there for a few moments both of us quiet. My pulse had finally settled down and my breathing was regular. I rolled over so that I was facing Bobby. He looked down at me and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

"So do you do this a lot?" I asked looking up at him.

"Do what?"

"Rescue distressed women, dash away, make them wait to see if you are going to show up and then sweep them off their feet and have amazing sex with them."

Bobby let out a loud laugh and rolled back on the bed. "In that order no."

"I don't do this you know," I said getting a little nervous. I had just thrown myself at this amazing man and now I was trying to back peddle. He must think that I am some kind of horrible slut.

"Elle."

"Yeah?"

"It's ok," he said leaning up and placing and light kiss on my lips. "We are both adults. You have no reason to feel guilty."

How in the hell did he know that? Am I that transparent?

"Well….." I started and Bobby placed a finger on my lips.

"Really, you don't have to feel bad about this. I wanted it just as much as you did. I didn't expect this to happen, just as I am sure that you didn't either. I sure as hell don't regret it and neither should you." He reached over and pulled me so that I was lying on top of him. I placed my hands on his chest and put my chin on them looking up at him.

"I don't feel bad. I just don't want you to think that I do this all of the time. I'm not some kind of slut that picks up guys and brings them home and fucks them. That isn't me."

"I know," he said stroking my hair. He placed his hands on either side of my face.

"But…" I started. Bobby leaned down and claimed my mouth his tongue swooping inside, making me forget how to breathe. He consumed me. I felt desire curling in my stomach, and within moments I was panting. I moved up to straddle him.

"Elle," Bobby said looking up at me.

"Shhh. It's my turn," I said with a wicked grin.

Bobby's POV 

Shit. She was amazing. She sat up straddling me. Her long dark hair was flowing wildly around her. Her green eyes sparkled with passion and the wicked little grin she was giving me made me shudder with anticipation.

I had to smile when I saw the love bites on her neck. I didn't mean to do that. I guess I just got carried away. But looking up at her, knowing that those were my marks on her made me instantly hard again. I wanted her. I wanted her to be mine.

Elle started placing hot kisses on my chest and her hands slid down my stomach. She grasped me in her hand and stroked me gently. I ground my teeth. She had no idea how close I came to loosing control when she did that. She kissed down my chest continuing to stroke me. She was a little awkward with her cast, but made up for it with enthusiasm.

Elle took me into her mouth and it was all I could do to not explode on contact. I groaned as she began sucking and stroking me with her hand. I reached down and entwined my hand in her hair. She looked up at me with her cat eyes and continued the sweet torture.

"Elle stop," I groaned. She instantly stopped and looked up at me.

"What's wrong," she said puzzled. I pulled her up to straddle me again.

"Nothing baby, I just want to be inside of you when I come. You keep doing that and I'm not going to make it," I said with a grin. She flashed me a dazzling smile and leaned down and ran her tongue across my lips. I tangled my hands in her hair and crushed her lips to mine.

Elle broke the kiss and sat up. She placed her hands on my chest and eased herself down on me. She sat down hard and I was fully embedded in her.

"Elle I need…" I ground out between clenched teeth.

"No, don't worry about it. Taken care of," she panted. I sat up and claimed her mouth. I reached down and pulled her legs so they wrapped around my waist. Elle scraped her fingernails down my back. I grasped her hips and moved her up and down on me.

She threw back her head and moaned. God she was so damn sexy. I leaned down to latch onto one of her nipples, my arm still around her small waist as I lifted her only to thrust into her again. She pushed against my chest and brought her legs around so she was on her knees again. I leaned back and she sat down on me hard again.

"God Elle," I groaned as she moved her hips in a circular motion grinding down on me. She threw her head back and I felt her tighten down on me. I looked up at her. She was glistening with sweat eyes closed. I don't think that I have ever seen anyone so beautiful. She opened her gorgeous green eyes and locked them with mine.

She placed her hands on my chest and rocked her hips against me hard and fast. I wasn't going to last much longer. She was driving me crazy. I moved my hand in between our bodies and brushed my thumb across her clit. She screamed out my name as she came. Clamping down on me hard as her powerful orgasm swept through her. She squeezed me so tight I had no choice but to follow suit.

Elle collapsed on top of me panting. I ran my hands up her smooth back kissing her hair.

I have been with a lot of women. Never have I been with a woman who could turn me upside down the way that she did. She rolled off of me and lay beside me. I pulled her close and nuzzled her neck. We lay there for a few moments until our breathing had evened out.

"Elle," I whispered. I moved up and looked down at her. Her eyes were closed and her breathing even. I had to chuckle. She was asleep.

I lay there for a long time just stroking her smooth skin and watching her sleep. She instinctively curled against me. I looked over at the clock and saw that it was 0330. I needed to get home. I had to be up in a couple of hours. I was exhausted. I didn't want to leave but I needed too.

I slowly untangled her body from mine and got up. I looked at her lying on the bed. Her hair spread around her snoring softly. God this woman was gorgeous. I grabbed my pants and weapons and quickly got dressed. I walked back into the living room and located my shirt and utility belt.

I spent a couple of minutes looking around her living room. Not really snooping, but checking things out. Ok, I was snooping. I wanted to know more about her. What she likes, interests etc.

I walked up to her entertainment center and looked at a few pictures she had. There was one that I loved. It was Elle and another older woman that I was assuming was her mother standing on a beach. They had the same eyes. Elle was a bronze goddess in her bikini and wrap.

I glanced over at her C.D. rack. She had a lot of Alternative and Heavy metal but there was a lot of jazz mixed in. All good things to know.

I went back into the bedroom and looked at her one last time.

She was dead to the world.

I walked into the kitchen and found a pad of paper by the phone. I quickly jotted down a note and headed out the door, locking up behind me. I took the stairs down and hopped into the Black Ford Expedition. I drove back to RangeMan with a huge smile on my face.

I pulled into the garage and hopped into the elevator and pressed the 4th floor. I exited and let myself into my apartment. I dropped my keys on the side table and walked to my bedroom. I quickly undressed and dropped down face first onto the bed. She had worn me out. I was exhausted. I instantly fell into a quiet sleep. Still grinning.

I awoke a few hours later. I got up and showered and quickly dressed and headed downstairs to the gym. I was running on the treadmill when Ranger strolled into the gym.

"Brown," he said approaching me.

"Yo Boss. Sorry about last night," I said with a grin.

"Don't give me any more shit like that and there won't be a problem."

"Just bad timing. My fault. Won't happen again."

Ranger nodded and hopped on the treadmill next to me. We ran in silence for a few moments. "So do you have a girlfriend now?"

"Still working on that one. Jury is still out," I said with a chuckle.

"Yours or hers?"

"Hers."

"Is it the chef from downtown?"

I looked over at him. I was going to kill Tank and Lester. He shot me a devilish grin and kept running.

"Yeah."

"Heard she said you were her knight in shining armor," he said laughing. I shot him a death ray.

"I'm gonna kick the shit out of Tank and Lester," I said slowing the treadmill to a slow jog. Ranger threw back his head and laughed.

"Think the pool was up to $650. I think you made Lester a happy man last night," he said laughing. I shook my head. I hopped off the treadmill and headed toward the showers, Ranger's laughter following me.

Giselle's POV I awoke at 7:30 and realized that I was alone. I lay there and listened to the quiet of my apartment. What did you expect him to still be here? I groaned and sat up. God I was sore all over but still smiling. I felt a little tinge of disappointment that he had left. I hobbled over to the bathroom and took care of nature's call. I looked at myself in the mirror. OMG! I had love bites and whisker burn on my neck. I turned and looked at my shoulder in the mirror. A nice purplish hickey glowed from my shoulder. I looked down further. I had a bite mark on my hip. How did that get there? Even with all the marks of one hell of a night of wild monkey sex I was glowing. Permagrin plastered on my face. I started the shower and strapped on my trash bag and hopped in. After my shower I walked into my bedroom and pulled on my clothes. I walked into the kitchen thinking about Bobby. I know that I had told myself that this was a fling. I still had a nagging disappointing feeling. I liked him a lot. I think that he likes me too. Well obviously he likes me, I have the marks to prove it. I saw a note attached to the coffeepot. Guess he knew where I would head first. I picked up the note and quickly read it. _Elle,_ _Sorry that had to leave. I have to work really early. I had an amazing night and I can't wait to see you Sunday. Here is my cell # 775-555-4688. Give me a call later today and we can talk about Sunday. Take care baby, have a great day. _ Bobby 

Well that was sweet. I folded the note and set it aside and fired up the coffee pot. He had a good time too and he still wanted to go out with me. Even after I had been some kind of wonton last night. I flushed thinking about it. I was almost sure that he would run away after the way I had acted last night. I had surprised myself. I had never been so out of control with a guy before.

I made my coffee to go and headed downstairs and hopped into my Extera and headed toward the restaurant. Alberto was already there when I got there. He was checking in a meat order when I trudged through the back door.

"Well, well look at what the cat dragged in," he said with a grin. I stuck my tongue out and walked over and sat my knives down. I sat down on a stool.

"Good Morning Alberto my love," I laughed as I looked over the invoice for the meat. Alberto busted out laughing.

"Who was it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Let me guess it was Mr. Knight in Shining Armor."

"What?!"

"Come on Elle," he said laughing. "I can see the permanent smile on your face and the marks on your neck. How did you end up with him last night?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," I said looking back down at the invoice.

"Bullshit," Alberto coughed. "I thought you were going out with him on Sunday?"

"I am."

"Sooooo. Are you going to fill me in or keep me hanging here?"

"I prefer the later," I answered with a smile.

"That's fine. I don't need the details. The proof of that is written all over your face!" Alberto laughed.

"Shut up," I answered with a grin and headed back to the office. I flopped down at my desk and started going over the massive amount of paper work in front of me. We have been lucky, I thought as I ran over the accounting. Most restaurants don't do half as well as we had done in such a short period of time.

I looked up at the clock and was surprised that it was already 11am. I hobbled into the kitchen and lunch was in full swing. I was thinking about taking a ride today over to RangeMan. I thought that I might bring Bobby and Tank lunch. That is certainly a very girlfriend thing to do I thought. Shit. Just a couple of hours and I can't wait to see him again. I am so pathetic.

"Hey boys," I called out to the guys on the line.

"Hey Chef," they all called back.

"I need someone to work me up a picnic type lunch for a few people," I called.

"I'll do it," answered Evan. This kid was going to be good one day, if he ever got his head out of his ass. He was young but had all the makings of a true chef.

"Great. I want four Duck breast sandwiches on the rosemary foccacia bread with arugula, roasted tomatoes, and some of the rosemary aioli. Oh, and a couple of mixed greens salads. Throw in some of that Chocolate Torte I made the other day." Evan nodded and went to work.

"And who would that be for?" Alberto said grinning. I answered him with a smile. "Try not to chicken out this time." I stuck my tongue out at him and walked back to my office. I sat down and picked up the phone. Should I call him? He said to right? That isn't weird is it? I took a deep breath and dialed the phone before I lost my nerve.

It rang a few times before he picked up.

"Brown."

"Uh, hi Bobby. It's Elle."

"Hey beautiful. I wondered when you were going to call."

"Are you busy for lunch? I thought that I would bring something over for you and for Tank," I said biting my lip. I hoped that I wasn't being to straight forward.

"Uh, ok, that sounds great," he replied kind of hesitantly. OMG! I was making a fool of myself.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, when you coming over?"

"How about in 15 minutes?"

"Sounds good. Just park out front and go to the reception desk. I will come down and meet you."

"Ok see you in a few."

"See ya Elle," he said and disconnected.

Ok now I was getting nervous. Maybe he didn't really want me coming to where he works. Maybe he was treating this as a fling and this was all to weird. "Oh God," I groaned and put my head down on the desk. This was so complicated. I didn't want to come on to strong. Hell I took care of that last night. I didn't regret it though. I really liked him a lot and I wanted to see him. Nothing wrong with that right?

"Chef?" Evan called quietly at my office door. I sat up and looked at him. "I have everything ready," he said handing me a huge to go bag.

"Thank you Evan," I said standing up. I put my crutch under my arm and grabbed my purse off the desk. I took the bag from him and hobbled out into the kitchen. "Be back in a few, Alberto."

"Take all the time you need Elle," Alberto said teasingly. "Don't just drive around the block three times. Actually park and take it inside this time."

"Asshole," I grumbled. Alberto's laughter followed me out the door.

I hopped into my Extera and headed over toward RangeMan. Traffic was light and I made it there quickly. I parked in front of the building and gimped my way into the front reception. There was a man sitting behind the desk.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes I am here to see Bobby Brown."

"Your name please?"

"Giselle Campagna."

"Just a moment," he replied and dialed a number on the phone. He spoke into the phone for a moment and then hung up. "He will be right down. Why don't you take a seat?"

I nodded and sat down in one of the chairs in the lobby. I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw the man staring at me over his computer screen. He saw me looking at him and instantly looked back at the screen. Weird. Within a few moments Bobby exited out of the elevator. He was wearing a huge smile and his 'Rambo' outfit. My heart actually skipped a beat.

"Hey," he said walking up to me.

"Hi," I said pulling myself up. "I brought this for you and Tank," I said handing him the bag. "How is he doing?"

"He's fine. Grumbling like a big bear but ok. Why don't you come up and you can eat with us?"

"Are you sure that is ok?"

"Of course it is," he replied. I started hobbling toward the elevator and Bobby placed his hand at the small of my back. We entered the elevator and Bobby punched the 5th floor. "I'm going to take you to the control room. Tank is there and a few of the other guys. Don't worry they are all harmless," he said with a smile.

The elevator opened and we entered a large room. There were cubicles to the right and to the left there was a large line of computers. Several men sat in front of the screens with headsets on. They were all dressed just like Bobby. All of them looked like they belonged on a He-Man calendar somewhere. They all turned and stared at us as we entered. One of the guys flashed me a brilliant smile and stood up.

He was a little shorter than Bobby and had chocolate colored eyes. His huge biceps strained his black t-shirt. He was a cutie. He didn't hold a candle to Bobby though.

"Elle, this is Lester Santos," Bobby said introducing us. I smiled and extended my hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh the pleasure is all mine. I have heard a lot about you," Lester said winking at me.

"Really?" I said glancing at Bobby.

"Moving on," Bobby said and walked toward the other two guys in front of the screens. "This is Cal." I smiled at the scary guy with the flaming skull tattoo on his forehead. "That is Vince," Bobby said motioning to the tall dark haired man at the other screen.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you both." They both said hello and turned back to the screens. Bobby motioned me down a hallway and we entered a room with tables and chairs. I was assuming this was a break room of some sort. Bobby pulled out a chair and I sat down. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Yo, were in the break room," he said and disconnected. He sat the bag on the table and took a seat next to me. "Tank will be here in a moment." I nodded and reached over and started pulling out the food that Evan had packed. "Elle, I'm sorry about this morning." Bobby said sheepishly.

"Why?"

"I didn't want to leave like that but I needed to get back here."

"I understand. Really there is no reason to apologize. I hope that it's ok that I came by today. I don't want to get you into trouble or anything," I said pulling the last of the food out of the bag.

"Normally we don't allow anyone up here but I cleared it with Ranger," he said looking at all the food spread out on the table. "Wow, you brought enough to feed an army," he said with a chuckle. He looked over my shoulder. I turned and looked and Tank strolled into the break room.

"Hi Tank," I said smiling. Tank gave me a small smile and nodded. "How is your arm?"

"I've had worse. How's your foot?" he said pulling up a chair across from us.

"Getting better. Only a few more weeks and I get this damn thing off. I wanted to bring you both lunch as my way of saying thanks for helping me out the day I broke my foot. I really do appreciate all that you both did to help me."

"You're welcome," Tank said with a shrug. "So what all do we have here?"

I explained all the food that I had brought. They both plowed into the sandwiches and salads. I ate my sandwich too and we talked for a while.

I couldn't believe that I thought Tank was scary the first time I met him. Watching him now was like watching a completely different person. He and Bobby laughed and told me some stories about when they were in the service. We were laughing and they both shot a look toward the doorway.

I turned and looked at the tall, dark man that walked in. He looked like a model. He had long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and caramel colored skin. He was dressed all in black. He had dark brown eyes that could stare a hole in you. Which was what he was doing to me right now. Bobby stood up.

"Elle, this is Carlos Manoso. Better known as Ranger."

I started to pull myself up but Ranger spoke then. "Don't get up," he said walking over toward me. He extended his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said flashing me a dazzling smile. Bet this one is a lady-killer I thought.

"Likewise," I said taking his hand. "Would you care for some lunch? I brought extra," I said motioning to the food.

"No thank you. Tank after you finish lunch could you come to my office?" Tank nodded. Ranger looked back at me again. "I hear you are a chef?"

"Yes, I just opened my own place downtown a couple of months ago." Man this guy's gaze was intense. I willed myself to look him in the eye. "You should come for dinner one night," I said taking a sip of my water.

"I might do that. Lester has been raving about your food for weeks."

"Really? That's great. Word of mouth is always the best advertisement," I said with a grin. Ranger gave me another blinding smile.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Elle," he said nodding his head.

"It is nice to meet you also," I said with a grin. "Isn't everyday that a girl gets to meet Batman." Bobby choked on his sandwich and Tank nearly spit out his water. Ranger let out a bark of laughter.

"I see you've met Stephanie."

"Yeah her and Lula took refuge in my apartment last night while they waited for The Justice League to show up," I said with a laugh. Ranger shook his head and walked out of the room. I looked over at Bobby and he was coughing. Tank looked like he was about to burst out laughing. "What?"

"Priceless. Just priceless. This ones a keeper Brown," Tank said finishing his sandwich and standing up.

"Don't I know it," Bobby said getting his coughing under control. "Score one for Elle," he said shaking his head.

"I don't understand. That is what Stephanie called him."

"I'll explain later," he said with a laugh.

"Thank you for lunch, Elle. It was great. Anytime you want to swing by and bring lunch feel free," Tank said with a smile.

"You're welcome. I'm glad that you enjoyed it."

"I hope to see you around." Tank nodded to me and walked out of the room. I turned and looked at Bobby.

"Thank you for bringing lunch, Elle. It was wonderful," Bobby said flashing me a heart-stopping smile.

"It was the least I could do. I wanted to do something for you both a few weeks ago, I just……"

"It's ok. I understand. What time are you off tonight?"

"It's Friday so who knows. I'll probably head home about 11 or so."

"Long day."

"Perks of the job," I said with a little smile. Bobby's laughter boomed. He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead.

"Come on I'll walk you downstairs," he said standing. He extended his hand and helped me up. I pulled my crutch under me and gimped my way back into the control room. I waved to the guys as we walked to the elevator. When we got to the lobby Bobby walked me out to my car. "Can I call you later?"

"Sure," I said beeping my car open. I hopped up in the seat and grabbed a pen and jotted down my number. "You working tonight?"

"No, I get off at 6."

"Shouldn't you normally give someone your number before you sleep with them?" OMG! Did I just say that out loud? Bobby threw back his head and laughed.

"I prefer this way I think," he said leaning in and placing a light kiss on my lips. I felt a bolt of electricity shoot though me. Bobby deepened the kiss and within seconds my heart was pounding in my chest. He pulled away leaving me panting. I blinked a few times and looked up at him. Bobby was looking at my neck and grinning. "Sorry about that."

I felt myself instantly blush. "It's ok. I think that we both got carried away. I have a feeling that you have a few too."

"Oh yeah."

"Sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about. Care if I come by later?"

"No, come by. Where do you live?"

"Here. On the 4th floor," he replied with a boyish grin.

"You literally live at work?"

"Guess you could say that. I gotta get back upstairs," he said placing another light kiss on my lips. "I'll see you tonight."

"Ok," I said. I watched as he walked back into the building. My Lord! That man can get me going in 2 seconds flat! Jesus! He's killing me I thought as I started my car and headed back downtown. I reached down and flipped on the air conditioner. Whew! I was on fire.

I pulled into the restaurant and tried to stop smiling. Just couldn't seem to do it though. I walked into the kitchen and Alberto shot me a curious look.

"I don't want to hear it," I said walking back toward the office. Alberto's laughter echoed through the kitchen.

Bobby's POV 

I was hoping that she would call but I didn't expect her to say that she was coming by. Not that it is a bad thing, it's just that most of the guys never bring girls to work. With the exception of Ranger and Steph or Lester and Marisa. But Marisa does some freelance work for us every now and then.

I called Tank right after I got off the phone with Elle.

"Talk," he answered.

"Elle is coming over and bringing us lunch."

"She's coming here?"

"Yup," I said with a grin.

"Nice," Tank burst out laughing. "Clear it with Ranger."

"Will do," I said disconnecting. I headed down the hall to Ranger's office. I knocked on the door. Ranger called for me to enter and I walked in and took a seat across from his desk.

"What's up Brown?"

"Uh would it be ok if Elle came by and brought lunch?"

Ranger raised an eyebrow and leaned over his desk. "Here?"

"Yeah, that cool?"

"Not something we normally do but ok. I'm sure the guys are dying to get a look," he said with a grin.

"Can't wait," I grumbled.

"Problems?"

"No. Hell I don't know. It's not like I don't want her to meet everyone it's just that…"

"You want to keep her for yourself for awhile?"

"Yeah," I said nodding.

"Oh you've got it bad," Ranger said laughing.

"No I don't."

"Bullshit."

I stood up and headed toward the door. "Thanks."

"No problem. I have to admit I'm curious about the woman that has you all messed up," Ranger said with a laugh. I shook my head and headed back to my office.

In a few moments my cell rang and it was Woody downstairs.

"Man there is some hot little number on crutches here to see you. Looks like she brought food."

"I'll be right down," I said disconnecting. I took the elevator down to the lobby. As I stepped out and saw her sitting there I felt something rush over me. Damn I can just look at her and she turns me inside out I thought.

Elle was sitting there in her chef clothes. Her long dark hair was pulled up in a loose ponytail and she instantly smiled when she saw me. I don't know how someone in all those frumpy clothes can look that hot. I guess I was flashing back to last night. Hell I had been thinking about that all day. She could be dressed in a sack and still look fantastic.

When she met the guys I was a little nervous. They had all given me so much shit about her I didn't want them to make asses out of themselves. But everything went ok. Lunch was fantastic. And when she made the remark about Ranger being Batman I almost lost it.

Obviously she didn't know Ranger. I don't think that it would have mattered though. She hit the nail on the head. Tank and I were still laughing about it later that day. So were the guys in the control room. Of course the break room is wired for sound so they heard the whole thing.

I was still debating where to take her on our date. I did some checking online and found out at Trenton was hosting a jazz festival in the park downtown on Sunday. I was thinking that was a plan.

After work I headed to my apartment and grabbed some dinner. I settled on the couch and took a short nap. I sure as hell needed some sleep. I woke up and it was almost 10:30. I took a quick shower and headed over to Elle's house. I pulled up to her apartment complex and saw her SUV parked.

I took the elevator up and knocked on the door. Elle opened the door and greeted me with a smile.

"Hey beautiful," I said leaning down to kiss her lightly.

"Hey."

Upon entering her apartment I took just a minute to appreciate how she looked. She was wearing a little, pink tank top, no bra, which I greatly appreciated, a pair of short, black lounge shorts. They showcased her gorgeous legs perfectly. Her long black hair was down and still wet from the shower.

"Care for something to drink?" she asked hobbling over toward the kitchen.

"Why don't you sit down? I know that you have been on your feet all day. I'll get it," I said redirecting her to the living room. I grabbed a couple of beers out of the fridge and joined her on the sofa.

"Careful you'll spoil me," she laughed.

"And that would be a bad thing?"

"I don't know. I've never been spoiled."

"We'll have to change that," I said putting my arm around her and pulling her closer to me. Elle curled up next to me and grabbed the remote.

This was nice. It wasn't at all awkward. We were enjoying a comfortable silence. Elle flipped though the channels and settled on an old John Wayne movie.

"So what do you want to do on Sunday?" she asked looking up at me.

"I was thinking that we could go to the Jazz festival downtown."

"Oh that sounds like fun! I saw the fliers around town and I thought about going."

"That's what we'll do then," I said leaning down and kissing her forehead. She smiled up at me and snuggled closer. We started watching the movie and I felt my eyes getting heavy. God I was tired. Today had been a long day.

"Are you going to stay with me tonight?" she asked looking up at me.

"Do you want me too?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll stay," I said grinning.

"There is something that I want to talk to you about," Elle said pulling away from me and sitting up on the couch.

"What is it?"

"Well I have been doing some thinking. I just want to know where we stand. I know that this is rushing things, but I think that we have already covered a lot of ground in a short period of time. Are you treating this like a hook up? Or are you looking for something more?"

I sat there and looked at her for a moment. I hadn't really given it a lot of thought. I mean I had thought about little else besides Elle all day, or well the past few weeks for that matter.

"I'm not sure. I mean my lifestyle and job doesn't really leave a lot of time for a serious relationship. I mean we hooked up and are having a good time." Uh oh. I fucked up. I knew from the look on her face. SHIT!!!

"So this is just a hook up in your spare time then?" she said staring at me.

"I didn't say that."

"Then what the hell did you mean then?"

"Exactly what I said." This was going from bad to worse quickly.

Elle pulled herself up off of the sofa. "I think you should go."

"What? Why?"

"Because I am not going to waste my time on someone who doesn't want the same things that I want. I don't want to just be some kind of fuck buddy that you can just drop by and see when it is convenient." I watched as she hobbled over to the door. I stood up and walked over behind her.

"You haven't told me what you want. How do you know that I don't want the same things?"

She turned and glared at me. "You just sat there and said that your life isn't cut out for a serious relationship. I just wanted to know where you wanted this to go. I don't want to get strung along and then figure out that this was all just some kind of fling. I am not going to allow myself to get in that deep." She opened the door and turned to look at me.

"Elle, come on. I'm not sure where I want this to go. I thought that we were just having fun." Her eyes widened.

"Go."

I walked out the door and turned and looked at her.

"What about Sunday?"

She shut the door and bolted it.

Well fuck. That didn't go at all like I wanted it to. I sighed and headed back down to my truck. I hopped inside and sat there for a moment. I put my head on the steering wheel. Shit. Why did women have to make this shit so complicated? Why can't they just go with the flow and see where it goes? Why in the hell do they have to plan out everything?

I don't need this. Fuck it. I'm better off. I started my truck and headed back to RangeMan.

Giselle's POV 

"Goddamn, son of a bitch, asshole," I grumbled as I stomped around my apartment. So I was a hook-up. Well what did you expect? I picked up a plastic cup in the kitchen and threw it. Some how it didn't help. I paced around my apartment for a few more minutes.

I grabbed my cell and called Alberto. His cell rang three times before he answered.

"What's up Elle?"

"Are you busy?"

"No, you ok?"

"No. I need to get the hell out of here for a while. Wanna come with?"

"Trouble in paradise?"

"Something like that. You wanna come or not?"

"Yeah, I'll pick you up in a few."

I hung up my cell and hobbled into the bedroom. I quickly changed clothes and headed downstairs. Alberto pulled up out front a few minutes later. I hopped into his car.

"So where are we going?" he asked pulling away from the curb.

"Don't care. I just really need to get out of the house some. I need to talk to someone. Berto you're my best friend. I need some advice."

"This have to do with Bobby?"

"Bobby. Me. Why in the hell does everything have to be so complicated?" I felt a tear run down my cheek. Alberto reached into the glove compartment and handed me a tissue. He pulled into a little Irish pub and parked. We got out and headed inside. We took a booth in the back and Alberto ordered a couple of beers.

"What happened?"

I sat there and told him the whole story even the part about the night before. Three beers later I was sobbing.

"So let me get this straight. You had a night of hot monkey sex, made him lunch, invited him over and asked for a commitment?"

"That's not what I did."

"Really? Sounded like it to me."

"Berto…"

"No. I have sat here and listened to you sob and blubber for over an hour. You're going to listen to me now. Elle everything doesn't always have to be all planned out. I know that is how you run your life. You never leave room for any surprises. You want everything to go exactly the way that you think it should. It doesn't always work out that way, Hun."

I shot him a look.

"Yes you do. You always have a plan and three back up plans for that one. That is fantastic in business. That is one of the reasons you are a success. Honey you are a hell of a business woman but you don't know the first fucking thing about love."

"Who said anything about love?" Alberto gave me a shocked look.

"Elle you don't just sit and cry. I know you. In the past 10 years I have never seen you sit and boo hoo over some guy. This guy got under your skin. And what did you do? Defense mechanism. You automatically jump to conclusions and defend yourself from getting hurt. You never want to take a chance and sit back and see where it goes. You care about him. I knew that two weeks ago."

"I don't know if I do or not."

"Bullshit. You know it. Don't try to pull that shit on me. You need to call him."

"I don't think that is a good idea," I said draining my beer.

"Why?"

"I'm not going to call him."

"Then don't fucking call me out in the middle of the night to sit here a weep over this shit. You want to live behind that wall that you have built then fine by me," Alberto said draining his beer. He stood up and threw a couple of bills on the table. "Come on. Let's get you home."

I stood up and Alberto threw his arm around me. We started walking toward the door. I saw a guy at the corner of the bar that I thought I recognized but blew it off. Alberto leaned down and kissed me on the cheek.

"You are as hard headed as they come. But I love you still," he said with a laugh as he opened the door for me. We hopped into his car and he drove back to my complex. He pulled up at the front door.

"I'm sorry Alberto. I shouldn't have called you and drug you out tonight."

"Don't worry about it. Do me a favor and think about what I said. I love you Elle you know that. I just want what is best for you. I have never seen you as happy as you have been the past few weeks since you met him. Don't just push him away to keep yourself safe. Don't be afraid to take a chance every now and then." Alberto reached out and squeezed my hand.

"Thanks Berto. I'll see you tomorrow," I said getting out of the car. Alberto waited until I was inside before he pulled away. I hopped into the elevator and made my way to my apartment.

I tugged off my jeans and bra and got in bed. I couldn't sleep though. I kept replaying tonight over and over in my head. Did I ask him for a commitment? I thought about what Alberto said. He was right. This was something that I had done before. Every time that I started to feel somewhat threatened I took the offensive. If you push them away you don't get hurt. Then you can blame them for being the asshole. Not me.

I looked at the clock. 3:45am. Shit I needed some sleep. I dozed off into a troubled sleep.

The next few days I threw myself into work. I was pulling 18-20 hour days. Then I would go home and crash. I was too tired to think about anything. That was a good thing.

I hadn't heard from Bobby and didn't think that I would. I had fucked up. I knew that. Sunday night I had sat in my apartment and eaten a whole pint of Ben and Jerry's and listening to jazz music before crying myself to sleep.

I would get over this. It was a mess of my own making and I have to deal with the fall out. I thought about him all the time. It had been over a week since our falling out and I decided to give him a call. It rang 5 times and went to voicemail.

"Uh, hi, it's me. Uh I just wanted to call you and see if you wanted to come by tonight. I would really like to talk to you and explain a few things. I feel horrible how things went and well……..shit. Just call me."

I hung up and sat on the couch. That hadn't sounded at all pathetic I thought sarcastically. Oh Giselle you are such a fool!

I sighed and headed to the shower. We'll see if he takes the peace offering.

Bobby's POV 

It had been a couple of days since the incident at Elle's. I had volunteered to pull doubles all this week. I didn't need any downtime. Just give me time to think about her. Why had it been so hard for me to just say I really like you? I want to spend more time with you. I want to give a relationship a try.

Steph had finally come back to RangeMan so I didn't have to do all the searches anymore. I volunteered for all the boring ass surveillance shifts.

I was walking into the control room to find Lester. We were working surveillance tonight. Woody walked up to me.

"Brown, you got a minute?"

"'Sup Woody?"

Woody motioned me over toward the break room. I followed him.

"Man I don't know how to say this. I have thought about it for a few days and I decided that you needed to know."

"What is it?"

"I was down at Murphy's the other night and I saw Giselle."

I glared at him.

"And?"

"She was with some guy. They looked really friendly. He kissed her on the cheek as they were walking out and told her that he loved her. Man I'm sorry. I know that you have been seeing her. I just thought that you should know."

I stood there for a few moments and let that sink in. I instantly put my blank face on.

"Thanks Woody."

"Sorry man," he said walking out of the break room. I stood there for a moment and ground my teeth. So she gives me a rash of shit and then is out with some guy who is telling her he loves her? Who was leading on whom? I took a few deep breaths.

Lester came walking in. "Yo, Brown you ready to go?"

"Yeah," I said following him out of the break room. My mind was still racing. Shit. What did I care who she was out with? It's nothing to me. But I still felt a shot of jealousy.

Damn her. She had managed to invade all of my thoughts. Not to mention sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I saw her lying on the bed, naked with her dark hair flowing all around her. Her green eyes clouded with passion.

This is why I don't do relationships I thought as Lester started up the Expedition and pulled out of the garage. We drove in silence for a few moments.

"Wanna talk about it?" Lester asked looking at the road.

"No."

"You sure?"

"Nothing to talk about."

"Not what I hear."

"What did you hear?"

"That Woody saw Elle at Murphy's with some guy. What's going on with you two anyway?"

"Shit man I don't know."

"Why don't you start from the beginning?"

So I did. Before I knew it I had told Lester the whole drawn out story. Start to finish.

"So you see how was I supposed to answer that?" I said in frustration.

"That's easy. Not the way you did," Lester said with a chuckle.

"What?"

"Look women want to hear that you are not using them. They want to know that you aren't just looking for a quick fuck. You like her?"

"Yeah," I sighed.

"Was it just a fuck?"

"No."

"Then why didn't you tell her that?"

"I don't know. You know how our lives are man. You know that with our job relationships aren't easy."

"I do it everyday."

"Yeah but that's different."

"How is it different? We work the same job. We work the same crazy hours. The only difference is that I'm not an idiot like you. I saw a good thing with Marisa and I jumped on it. You are just content to kick your self in the ass for letting her get away. You should have opened your dumb, stupid mouth and said something."

"What was I supposed to say? I love you?"

"Do you?" Lester said with a smirk. I cut my eyes at him.

"I don't know. It takes time for that sort of thing."

"Took me 4 days."

"What?"

Lester laughed. "It took me 4 days. I knew."

"Bullshit."

"No shit man. Which brings me to another thing."

"What?"

"I asked Marisa to marry me last night."

"Are you fucking serious?"

Lester laughed. "That isn't even the best part." I looked at him expectantly. "Marisa's pregnant."

My jaw dropped open. Holy shit! "That's why you asked her?"

"No," Lester said shooting me an incredulous look. "I have been planning on asking her for weeks. She told me after I had asked her. Dude, I'm going to be a Daddy."

"Wow, congratulations man. That's awesome. I'm really happy for you both. So when is the wedding?"

"We haven't gotten that far yet. But soon I think. I don't want to wait. We aren't going to do anything huge. Just a small thing. I haven't said anything to anyone else. So do me a favor and keep it quiet."

"Sure man. No problem." I sat back and let it all sink in. Santos is getting married and having a kid. Wow. Never thought I would see the day.

That set me to thinking. Hell if Santos could do it why can't I? I should just call her. No. Let her call me. She was the one who threw it out there. If she wanted to talk to me she knew where to find me.

We finished up the surveillance and headed back to RangeMan. Lester parked in the garage and we headed up to the 5th floor. We checked in and gave out report. We headed back to the elevator. I pressed the 4th and Lester the garage.

"You gonna call her?"

"Nope."

"Don't be a dumbass," Lester called as I exited the elevator. I didn't even glance back at him.

Elle called me a few days later. I didn't answer I just let it go straight to voicemail. I wasn't ready to talk to her yet. I waited until later that night to listen to her message.

"_Uh, hi, it's me. Uh I just wanted to call you and see if you wanted to come by tonight. I would really like to talk to you and explain a few things. I feel horrible how things went and well……..shit. Just call me."_

She didn't sound very good. She sounded upset. I dialed her number a few times but hung up. I needed some more time to figure everything out. I wasn't sure what I wanted to say to her.

I waited two weeks before I called her.

**Giselle's POV**

I had finally gotten the fucking cast off of my leg. Just in the time. I was starting to have thoughts of sawing it off myself.

I hadn't heard from Bobby since I had called him a few weeks ago. I guess that it was done. Alberto kept trying to cheer me up but it wasn't working. The only thing that seemed to take my mind off of him was throwing myself into work.

It was late Saturday night and I was just heading home. I had just pulled into my parking lot when my cell rang. I picked it up and looked at the number. Bobby. My heart clenched. I wasn't looking forward to this conversation but I felt like it needed to be done. I hesitantly answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi Elle."

"Hi."

"Are you home?"

"Just pulled into the lot."

"I'll see you in 20," he said and disconnected.

SHIT! I jumped out of my SUV and dashed up the stairs. I jumped into the shower and washed my hair. I flew into the bedroom and pulled on a pair of jeans and small black tank top. I quickly brushed out my hair and blew it dry. I took a look at myself in the mirror. I couldn't do anything about the dark circles under my eyes. That's what happens when you work your ass off and don't sleep.

I walked into the living room and heard a knock at the door. I took a deep breath. Willed my heart to stop jumping around and opened the door.

OMG! That was all that shot though my mind.

Bobby stood there looking unbelievable in a pair of faded jeans and a gray t-shirt. He was holding a huge bouquet of dark red roses. He looked down at me and flashed me a blinding smile.

"Hey," he said with a grin.

"Uh, hi." I stood there for a moment.

"Can I come in?"

"Uh, yeah sure. Sorry," I said stepping aside. He walked into the entryway and turned to face me.

"These are for you," he said holding out the huge bouquet.

"Thank you. They are beautiful," I said walking toward the kitchen. I pulled out a vase and filled it with water. I placed the flowers in the vase and turned around. Bobby was leaning against the doorframe watching me.

"When did you get your cast off?"

"Earlier this week. It's a good thing too. I was starting to have thoughts of sawing the fucking thing off myself," I said with a nervous laugh walking past him to place the flowers on the dining room table.

I stopped and took a deep breath. My stomach was doing flip-flops. This was going to be a lot harder than I thought. Just being in the same room with him made me forget what I wanted to say. The only thought running through my head was how I could get him naked. Stop it! You need to suck it up and do this! I turned around. Bobby was standing very close to me.

"I'm glad that you decided to call," I said swallowing. "I have a few things that I need to tell you."

"I have a few things I need to tell you too."

I looked up at him. "Why don't we go into the living room?"

Bobby nodded and followed me. I sat down on the couch. Bobby sat next to me. I turned to face him.

"Look I feel really bad how things went the last time you were here. I know that I was being unfair. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. It was rude. I'm sorry that I was such a jerk," I said taking another deep breath.

Apologies don't come easy for me.

Bobby started to say something but I held up my hand. "Let me finish. I asked you to make a decision that I had no right to expect you to make. I was……well shit, I was scared. You don't fit into my plan. This was very unexpected. You just swooped into my life and turned it upside down. Suddenly I needed to revaluate everything. I wasn't prepared for that. So I thrust this shit on you hoping you would run away. That way my life could go back to the way it was before."

I stopped and looked at him. His light blue eyes were full of compassion.

I quickly looked at his chest. "But the catch in that plan was my life didn't go back to the way it was before. In fact to tell you the truth I have been miserable. I'm sorry that I did that to you. I'm sorry that I put you in an awkward position. It was an asshole thing to do and I apologize."

There that wasn't so bad.

Bobby moved over closer to me. He put his hand under my chin and tilted my head up. He crushed his lips to mine. Taking me completely by surprise. His tongue thrust into my mouth and I whimpered and pressed against him. Bobby broke the kiss and looked down at me.

"Elle it's ok," he said with a grin. "I shouldn't have said the things that I did. I was the one that was wrong." He placed his hands on either side of my face. "You are not just a fling. You are not just a hook-up or a fuck or whatever you want to call it. I should have never let you believe that I thought of you in that way. I'm still not sure where I want this to go. But I do know that I really like you. I like spending time with you. I want to spend a lot more time with you."

I had to remind myself to breath. I didn't realize I had been holding my breath. I looked into his eyes and I felt my heart melt.

"I want to give this a shot Elle. I want to try to have a real relationship. But before I get into that I need for you to answer a few questions."

"Ok."

"Are you seeing anyone else?"

"No. Why would you ask that?"

"Woody saw you in Murphy's with some guy."

I thought for a moment. "Murphy's?" I sat there and wracked my brain. Shit. "That was the last night you were here. I was upset after you left and I called Alberto. We went to Murphy's and had a few beers," I said with a giggle.

Bobby shook his head and chuckled. "Alberto."

"Yeah. It was Alberto."

"That man is going to give me a fucking heart attack," Bobby said laughing. I leaned up and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"You need to stop worrying about Alberto," I said giggling.

"Fuck Alberto," Bobby growled as he grabbed me and pulled me against him. He crushed his lips to mine. Desire shot through me. I clung to his shoulder. God this felt so right. Bobby broke the kiss and stood up pulling me with him. He leaned down and picked me up. I yelped in surprise. His strength amazed me.

He carried me into the bedroom and sat me down beside the bed. I was shaking with anticipation. Bobby gently kissed my forehead, each of my eyes, my nose before finally settling on my lips. He slowly slid my shirt up and tossed it aside. He grasped my breasts through the thin material of my bra and flicked his thumbs across my nipples.

I slid my hands up his shirt and across his hard stomach. Bobby unlatched my bra and threw it aside. He reached over his shoulder and pulled his shirt off in one quick motion. I kissed his hard chest. I ran my tongue around his nipple and gently pulled the hard tip between my teeth. He sucked in his breath. I smiled against his chest.

Bobby unfastened my jeans and pushed them down over my hips. I stepped out of them and kicked them aside. I fumbled with the button on his jeans. Bobby chuckled and unfastened them. I slid them down grasping his firm ass as I did so. Bobby stepped back and kicked off his shoes and socks and pulled his jeans off and cast them aside.

The sight of him standing before me made me instantly wet. His chest was well defined. His rock hard eight pack abs shivered as I ran my fingernails over them. Bobby pulled me close to him and claimed my mouth. He ran his hands down my back and grasped my ass and pulled me against him. I clung to him like a second skin.

He gently eased me back onto the bed. I stared up into his gorgeous blue eyes. They had turned almost a sapphire color. I stroked the side of his face. Bobby smiled down at me and placed a light kiss on my lips. He rained hot kisses down my neck and chest. Stopping to nip and suck each of my nipples. He placed feather light kisses across my stomach and nipped my hip. Bobby moved in between my thighs and pulled them over his shoulders.

I cried out as his tongue swept across my clit. He was driving me mad. He was slowly circling it with his tongue and stopping to lick from my opening up. I shuddered at the desire that shot though me. I pressed against his hot mouth craving more. Bobby gave me what I wanted. He began to nip and suck at my clit. He slowly inserted two fingers into my wet folds and bit down on my clit. I cried out as a mind-blowing orgasm swept through me.

I lay there quivering. Every nerve ending in my body was humming. Bobby slowly kissed and licked back up my body. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him closer to me. He kissed my ear and traced it with his tongue.

"That is all I have thought about doing for almost three weeks," he whispered.

"Is that all?" I giggled.

"Not even close baby," he chuckled. He settled himself between my thighs on his knees. He pulled my legs up and placed them on his shoulders. Bobby took his hard length in his hand and rubbed it against my clit. I moaned and pressed against him. He entered me excruciatingly slow. He was half way in and he withdrew. I groaned. "How do you want it Elle?"

I opened my eyes and looked up at him panting. "I think you know," I said huskily. Bobby smiled and plunged his full length into me filling me completely. I cried out as he once again touched a deep place inside of me. He pulled all the way out and thrust inside of me fully again. I was moaning and thrashing against him. He pounded into me and I screamed his name as another orgasm ripped though my body.

Bobby slowed down and pulled my legs off his shoulders. In one quick motion he rolled over and I was straddling him. I looked down at him as I sat down taking him completely inside of me. "Tell me how you want it," I said clenching my muscles around him.

"Oh God, do that again," he gasped. I did as he asked and ground my hips in a circular motion. I clenched down on him again and reached behind me and began stroking his balls. I ran my fingernails across them squeezing him tight. I placed my hands on his hard chest and sat up until he was almost all the way out of me before sitting down hard.

"Christ Elle," Bobby ground out between clenched teeth. I repeated the motion. I slowed my rhythm to only shallow movements.

"Is that how you want it?" I asked panting. Bobby placed his hands on my hips and pulled me up and pressed me down hard again.

"Like that baby, hard. Fuck me Elle. I want you to see you come again. Come for me baby."

I ground against him hard and fast. I was developing that familiar swirling feeling in my stomach. Bobby sat up and wound his hand in my hair. He pulled it tight causing my head to fall back. He began sucking and licking my neck as I ground down on his hard length. I screamed as the orgasm quaked through me. Bobby pulled me down on him hard and he shuddered his own release.

We both collapsed on the bed covered in sweat. Bobby pulled me against him. I curled up next to him and intertwined my limbs with his. We lay there for a few minutes. My heart was still pounding in my ears. Bobby was stroking my back with his hands. The motion was hypnotic.

"Elle?"

"Hummm."

"Will you ……………"

**Bobby's POV**

_Four Months Later_

Today was the big day. Everyone was so excited. The small church just outside of Trenton was packed. All of the guests had finally filed into the small space. I tugged at the collar of my tux. I hate wearing these things. But today was a special occasion.

The organ music started to play and I saw Lester twitch beside me.

"Stop twitching," I whispered.

"Can't," he replied.

I looked down the isle as Jennifer, Marisa's sister started walking down. I scanned the crowd and found Elle standing next to Tank, Steph and Ranger and all the other RangeMan employees over on the left side. She looked amazing in that little black dress. Her long dark hair was pulled up with soft curls floating around her. She turned to look at me and instantly smiled, her green eyes twinkling with delight.

As the organ began to play the wedding march, I forced my gaze from Elle to focus on Marisa and her brother-in-law Kevin. She looked beautiful. She was wearing a cream colored strapless gown and you could just barely see her stomach straining against the dress.

Lester's breath caught beside me.

"Breathe Santos," I whispered.

"Can't."

Marisa stepped up on the small platform and took Lester's hand. The ceremony took only a short while. Lester almost dropped the ring as I handed it to him. We have been though a lot together. Crawled through muck, gunk and other unknown substances in jungles with missiles flying over out heads and I had never seen him this nervous.

I think that everyone sighed with relief when the ceremony was finally over. As we exited the church I waited just outside the door for Elle. She came out with Tank and walked over to me.

"Hey handsome," she said straitening my bow tie.

"Hey beautiful," I said leaning down and placing a light kiss on her lips. "I've got to do the picture thing and I will catch up with you."

"Ok, I'll be with Tank. We are going to head over to the reception. See you in a few," she said leaning up and giving me a quick kiss. She turned and caught up with Tank.

Finally the pictures were over and we were free to head to the reception. I caught up with Santos and Marisa as they were getting into the limo. "Marisa, you look beautiful," I said leaning down and kissing her cheek.

"Thank you Bobby. I'm so glad that you decided to be Les's best man. He needed someone up there who could catch him if he passed out," she said with a laugh.

"It was looking that way," I chuckled.

"Hey I didn't pass out. That is what's important," Lester chimed in. He pulled Marisa close to him and planted an almost indecent kiss on her. Marisa broke away she looked flushed.

"I'll see you guys at the reception," I said laughing. I jogged over to my truck and hopped in.

When I arrived at the reception hall the party was in full swing. I spotted Elle dancing with Tank. I said my hello's as I walked in and made my way onto the dance floor.

"What you trying to make a move on my girlfriend?" I said as I walked up behind Tank.

"Yeah you'd better watch it Brown. I think I'm making progress here," Tank said twirling Elle around. Elle threw back her head and laughed. I love to hear her laugh. Tank spun her around and she took my hand.

"Sorry Tank. I love you and all but I think I'm gonna stick with this one," she said laughing huskily.

"Sugar, you ever decide you want a real man you know where to find me," Tank said placing a quick kiss on her cheek. Elle flashed him a dazzling smile and turned to me. I wrapped my hands around her waist and held her close as the band slipped into a slower song.

The past few months had been great. Once we finally got over the hump, we were good together. I was so surprised how easily Elle had fit into my life. Her restaurant had flourished and her and Alberto were talking about expanding. She made Alberto an equal partner so it took some of the load off of her. Which I thought was wonderful. She was killing herself trying to take it all on by herself.

I spent damn near every night over at her place. We had moved her into her new condo last weekend. I was glad that she decided to move out of her crappy one bedroom apartment, especially with the deranged wanker guy down the hall.

I leaned down and nuzzled against her neck. She smelled wonderful. Like spice cake. "I'm glad you decided to come with me."

"You actually thought I wouldn't come with you? Are you crazy?" she said with a throaty laugh. "I love weddings."

"Elle, I want to tell you something."

"What's that?" she asked laying her head on my shoulder. We stopped dancing and I pulled her away from me. I stared into her sparkling green eyes.

"I love you."

"Took you long enough," she said laughing. She leaned up and kissed me.

I felt wonderful. Like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I had wanted to tell her that for a while. I just couldn't seem to get the words to come out right. Who knew that three little words could choke a man to death?

"I love you too," she whispered against my lips.

The band announced Lester and Marisa. Everyone turned to watch the new Mr. & Mrs. Santos walk in. The whole room cheered. Elle and I both stood still in each other's arms. There was no one else in the room but us.

Late that night we lay on her bed in her new condo. Elle was curled up next to me gently stroking my chest. I leaned down and placed a light kiss on her hair.

"Elle, do you wanna marry me?" I asked as I was starting to doze off.

I felt her stiffen. She sat up and looked down at me the sheet pooling around her waist.

"Was that supposed to be some kind of proposal?"

I looked up at her through partially closed eyes. "And what if it was?"

"Then it was a shitty excuse for a proposal," she said giggling.

"Hey it's not like I have had much practice at this."

"Well why don't you practice it some more and ask me in a few months," she said curling up next to me again.

I smiled at her, kissed her on her forehead and we both drifted off into a content sleep.

**TBC…….maybe.**


End file.
